Down on the Spanish coast, it’s a hot sunny day, and Suzanne Shaw is most amused by her outfit: a white fluffy dressing gown and matching slippers. ‘Looking good,’ she laughs. No, the former Hear’Say singer and actress hasn’t lost the plot. It’s all for the Celebs On Sunday’s fashion shoot, and the petite star is about to get changed into her first glam outfit of the day.
Suzanne is little (just 5ft 2in) but curvy (‘women shouldn’t be really skinny’) and pretty in a fresh, girlish way. Despite this, she comes across as older than her 25 years and although polite, appears a little wary and reserved at first. Considering what life has thrown at her over the past three years (mostly thanks to her ex-fiancé Darren Day, the father of her son, Corey) it’s hardly surprising. However, it’s not long before her wit and warmth come through, and she’s regaling us with the kind of dodgy jokes you can’t tell your gran and suggesting silly faces for our cover shot (in between many cigarette and Diet Coke breaks).
Suzanne would be the first to admit her life’s got a lot more sedate since becoming mum to two-and-a-half-year-old Corey. And she says she rarely goes out now. ‘I stay in and I read. I’m telling you, I’m too knackered to do anything else!’ she laughs.
Suzanne fell pregnant while dating Darren Day (now wed to actress Stephanie Dooley) who notoriously left her on Mother’s Day 2005 when Corey was three months old, claiming he ‘didn’t do family’. The relationship fell apart but, just over two years later, Suzanne says she’s finally content and reckons the turbulent break-up actually benefited her.
‘I don’t regret the relationship with Darren,’ she says. ‘It’s made me a stronger person. I feel I can deal with anything now. There was a period when life was crappy. Very crappy. But I look back and it makes me appreciate what I have now much more.’
The most positive thing to come out of the relationship, Suzanne says, is Corey. ‘I want to say thank you to Darren,’ she says. ‘Firstly for making me realise I can walk away from a situation like that, but mostly for giving me Corey. I don’t think you can have that love for anyone else in your life. I can’t put it into words.’
All angelic blond curls and big brown eyes it’s easy to be smitten by Corey, who dutifully waves at you with a very earnest look on his face if you say ‘bye bye’ to him. And Suzanne says despite the past, she’s pleased he’s forging a relationship with his dad.
‘Corey sees Darren, yes,’ she says. ‘They’re building a great relationship and I’m honestly glad of that. As long as Corey’s happy that’s the most important thing.’
Suzanne herself is happy too and ‘in a great place’. After battling postnatal depression and leaning on her closest friends for support (‘the three people who kept me sane were mum, my PA Michelle and Myleene Klass’) she ended up finding love again with old friend Jason Kay, aka JK from Radio 1’s JK & Joel Show. The pair have known each other since Suzanne’s Hear’Say days but got it together after appearing on Britain’s Worst Celebrity Driver in December 2005.
‘Jason – love him,’ she says, grinning. ‘I didn’t want Corey and him to be introduced in early stages, but after a while it was like, are we serious? Because if we are you’ve got to take on this child. I remember saying to him, “I come as a double act. We either spend the day as a family or I’m not interested”.’ Suzanne doesn’t see her ultimatum as brave, just sensible, given the circumstances. ‘My priority is Corey, so it was either you do it, or don’t. And he did. From that moment he was changing nappies, bathing Corey… He’s a dream with Corey, he might be better than me,’ she laughs. ‘Corey’s “our son”. I feel out of place half the time as they giggle together at me. It’s like a guy’s club!’
Suzanne believes finding JK and having Corey has made her a ‘cup half full’ person. She admits in the past she tended to ‘dwell on the dark side’, probably due to relationships with gloomy people (‘Let’s just say Darren wasn’t the most optimistic person…’).
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‘I’ve changed,’ she says. ‘Before I’d look at the crap side of everything, now I don’t. Perhaps it’s just growing up, or the fact Corey is such a happy child. Corey saw me cry the other day and he sat on my knee, and went, “There, there mummy”. It’s so lovely.’
Although Suzanne concedes being a working mum is exhausting, she sees the rewards as ‘overwhelming’ and wouldn’t say no to more babies in the future.
‘I always wanted to have kids – I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon,’ she says. ‘That said, I love being a young mum. If I have time and energy I’ll have more. I was saying two or four to Jay the other day.’
With both Corey’s parents being in showbiz, and practically growing up backstage in mum’s dressing room while she was in Joseph (‘He was six weeks old and in there with all the costumes. It’s quite a camp start to life’) Suzanne reckons there’s a strong chance her son might end up in the spotlight.
‘He loves being the centre of attention. But whatever he wants to do I’ll support him, just like my parents did for me.’ Since she was three, Suzanne’s never had another career option. ‘It makes me laugh, I used to say to my dad, “I’m going to be in Hollywood!”’
And despite being busy in the UK with a new ITV reality show, Suzanne says she’s ready to embrace LA.
‘I went for pilot season recently,’ she says. ‘I signed up with the most awesome agent. I’m doing acting classes and audition techniques and just seeing where it takes me. I’m not deluded, I don’t think I’ll be the next big movie star, but if you don’t try how will you know?’
Currently Suzanne says her hands are full with just being a mum. But talk of domestic bliss begs the question – will she complete the picture-perfect family with a marriage? ‘I want to,’ she smiles. ‘I’m in no rush, but a nice white dress and a Caribbean island would be lovely.’ After some tough times, she deserves her dream nuptials. With her personal life sorted there’s only one thing left to achieve... ‘World domination of course,’ she says.
And bursts out laughing.
SUZANNE ON SURGERY
If you’re really unhappy why not? Maybe at one point in my life I’ll have a facelift. I’ve already had botox. It’s not painful – it’s on a par with acupuncture. It’s worn off now, I need it done again. It is funny because it’s like, ‘I’m frightened’ (pulls blank expression) ‘I’m angry’ (blank expression). But if it staves off wrinkles, it’s good.
Celebs On Sunday stayed at Blau Porto Petro Spa and Resort Hotel, Mallorca, courtesy of Great Hotels Of The World. Double rooms on a half-board basis from £288 p/n. Call Great Hotels Of The World on 0800 032 4254 or visit ghotw.com/blau-porto-petro. Transfer time 45 mins from Palma Airport. Fly with Easyjet from £35 single (easyjet.co.uk). Suzanne also sampled treatments at the hotel’s Ecologic Spa (£120 for retreat day, £150 for couple’s retreat half day).
