I banned my two daughters from watching Love Island – it’s my significant parenting no-no, says Jenny Powell
IT’S one of the hottest programmes on the television.
But one family that don’t tune into Love Island is Jenny Powell’s, as the TV presenter has banned her kids from watching the matchmaking show in her house.
On the new episode of Fabulous’ hit podcast, Things I Told My Daughter, Jenny – who is mother to 20-year-old Constance, aka Connie, and 12-year-old Pollyanna – insisted: “Don’t be influenced by the influencers…. I don’t like anyone watching Love Island in the house, or Squid Game.
“That is a no-no and sounds pathetic, but it’s significant.
“And I have said, ‘Nobody’s watching Love Island, you can’t watch Love Island here’. That’s my no.”
Jenny was joined by Connie on the podcast, and the pair spoke lengthily to model and Fabulous columnist Peta Todd about their unique bond.
Connie is now in her third year of studying the History of Art at the University of College London, and Jenny admitted that saying goodbye to her eldest was more than a little difficult.
“It’s called empty nest syndrome, isn’t it,” she said. “I did sit at the end of Connie’s bed when she left in September/October of 2019 – I felt really emotional.
“It took me a while but I did have a little cry and then I realised that it was a thing and it was okay.”
Jenny added that while she could “focus” on Pollyanna and the family dog once Connie left, she missed the “special friendship” she has with her eldest daughter.
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“I really do miss it when she’s not there. But that’s selfish of me, and indulgent,” she sighed.
Jenny became a single mother shortly after welcoming Pollyanna into the world, and told Peta that she worried about how having another child would affect her relationship with her eldest.
“I was really conscious then that our relationship might change, or the dynamic will be too one-sided because Connie was at school and getting her independence and then all of a sudden everyone’s fussing over a newborn baby.”
“But I don’t think it changed. I think actually, we did it together, with Pollyanna in the house. Maybe because Connie was older and there was no sort of competition.”
She also praised her eldest for helping her out with Pollyanna when she was struggling with menopause, such as cooking her dinner or helping her with bedtime.
“It’s the little things like that that I think, ‘Oh my goodness, it costs nothing and it means such a lot to me – those little things’,” she smiled.
When it comes to raising both Connie and Pollyanna, their upbringings have been quite different.
While Connie was the academic child, Pollyanna is more of a free spirit, with Jenny musing: “I think personally I was really honing in on Connie’s academic side, it was more pressured.
“With Polly it’s like, ‘do what you want’. I’d never have said that to Connie, I’d always have been like, ‘Right, have you done that? Have you finished your studies?’
And that pressure is largely responsible for Connie getting into university, and hopefully forging a career as a successful artist.
Asked what she hopes for Connie’s future, Jenny said: “Connie is an amazing artist. I know that that’s what she’s brilliant at.
“I think that’s what her art is for her. Good days, bad days, that’s what she relies on – she goes and paints. She’ll produce this piece of art and there’s so much emotion in it.
“I just want her to continue to recognise her talents. Sometimes it’s very easy in this world to put yourself down and say, ‘I’m just not good enough’.
“I really hope that she ignores all that and she stays the way she is. Because she is… I’m constantly texting them both saying they’re beautiful souls, and we need those.”
- Fabulous magazine’s podcast Things I Told My Daughter is back with a new series. Hosted by Fabulous contributor, influencer and mum-of-four Peta Todd, it focuses on intimate conversations between celeb mums and daughters. Listen to Peta interview Jenny now.
