Rebekah Vardy says motherhood has made her "strong and resilient".
The 37-year-old – who has kids Megan and Taylor from previous relationships and Sofia, five, and Finley, two, with her husband Jamie Vardy – wants to be a better mother to her kids than she felt her mom was to her and she has channelled her inner strength.
She said: "I had to decide if it was going to define me or whether I was going to move on from that. And I wanted more for myself than to live in the shoes of that girl. I didn’t want it all to make me crumble and then ultimately have a knock-on effect on my kids. Having children made me strong and resilient and gave me something to focus on. They made me determined to not be who my mum was. And I think that if you have something that you are so adamant you don’t want to be, it’s amazing what willpower can do. You never realise how strong you are until being strong is the only thing you’ve got."
And Rebekah wants to be a good role model to her children.
She added to The Sun on Sunday’s Fabulous magazine: "I get stick because I’m opinionated and I don’t conform to what society wants me to be. I’m not a walkover. I could easily sit around and do nothing all day, but what kind of example would I be setting for my kids if I did that? That’s not acceptable. I’m very strict with my kids, because I don’t want them to grow up thinking everything they want they’re going to get. If you want something you have to earn it."
Rebekah Vardy: Motherhood’s made me strong
