EXCLUSIVE: Blue Peter legend Janet Ellis has opened up about her modern family life, including how grandson Sonny came to live with her two years ago
Janet Ellis is opening up about life living with her grandson
Janet Ellis doesn’t do distance, be it emotional or physical. At 70, the broadcaster, writer, and Blue Peter icon is juggling grandmotherhood, grief, travel and a very modern household that now includes her 21-year-old grandson.
Sonny, the eldest child of pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor, moved in organically, Janet says, a practical solution that quietly speaks volumes about the closeness of a family shaped by premature births, miscarriages, loss and unconditional love.
With Sophie about to embark on a huge tour of Australia and New Zealand, Janet is once again preparing to step into full-time support mode. She says: “I’m literally a halfway house.”
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At 70 Janet is juggling grandmotherhood
Janet became a grandmother in her late forties, something she shrugs off with characteristic bluntness. She says: “Oh my gosh, well, I was a grandmother at 47, so I didn’t get any choice in the matter. Even then, I was ‘Old Grandma’, because your grandchildren always think you’re absolutely ancient, whatever age you are. And that’s totally fine.”
Sophie’s firstborn arrived eight weeks prematurely in April 2004 after the singer developed pre-eclampsia, a condition that pushes blood pressure dangerously high. Sophie has spoken openly about having also gone through it with her second son, Kit.
Janet is embracing having Sonny around, saying: “I have modern, young opinions on tap. New music around the place. All those things I really love.”
Sonny moved in two years ago after completing a foundation year at art school, weighing up his next steps while leaving a big, busy household geared towards much younger siblings (Kit, 16, Ray, 13, Jesse, 10, and Mickey, eight).
Janet says: “The default of that house is obviously towards the younger ones. When it was first suggested, it felt properly organic he lives here.”
The logistics help too. “He’s 10 minutes down the road from House A (Sophie’s home in West London), so he is pretty spoiled, really. He can go between the two, and there’s always food. What an absolute luxury.”
Janet knows only too well how fragile beginnings can be. When Kit, Sophie’s second son with The Feeling bassist Richard Jones, was born nine weeks premature in 2009, the experience once again reawakened Janet’s own memories of motherhood. Her youngest daughter, Martha, was born ten weeks early in December 1990.
Janet says: “She was supposed to arrive in February and arrived before Christmas. She was in a special care unit for five weeks. And I’m afraid the whole environment felt rather familiar.”
One of the most startling revelations Janet shares is that Sophie didn’t know about her mother’s miscarriages until after Sonny’s birth. Janet says: “I didn’t want to burden her. And I didn’t want to put her off having more children.”
Over five years, between the ages of 35 and 40, Janet lost ten pregnancies with no medical explanation. She says: “After three, you become a patient at the recurrent miscarriage clinic. But they never discovered why it happened.”
Janet shielded her kids entirely, saying: “I already had three children, and I didn’t want to lose their childhoods. They didn’t know anything about what was happening. I didn’t want them ever to think that I was unwell because of it.”
If there’s any frustration beneath Janet’s calm, it is reserved for the lack of progress in understanding miscarriage. She says: “To be honest, I don’t think things have moved on terribly much. I still meet people who have had a miscarriage, and it’s completely unexplained. That’s women’s health. It’s always way down the list of priorities. It isn’t until someone makes a big fuss that things get done. And that’s been the case for years.”
Janet believes society still underestimates just how traumatic childbirth and early complications can be, and how easily relationships fracture under that pressure.
She says: “There should be mandatory support. You’ve just done a big thing. You’ve produced an infant.”
She knows firsthand how crucial that support can be. Janet considers herself fortunate to have had her second husband, television producer John Leach, by her side.
Alongside Martha, in 1987 they had a son, Jack, while Sophie was from Janet’s first marriage to the director Robin Bextor. John died from cancer at the age of 63 in July 2020, a loss that reshaped Janet’s life, but did not diminish her appetite for living.
She says: “Absence is the cruellest thing of all. Your partner might be away on a trip or doing something else without you. But if you know they’re in the world, you can reach them at some point. When they die, you can’t.
“I still love John. He’s still my husband. I still want to be able to tell him things. I’ve not only celebrated a big birthday, but the birth of another grandchild. All sorts of things are happening in my world. So the idea of losing him is still as vivid and real as it ever was. But you have to get used to how the world feels on your own.”
In recent years, Janet has embraced a new adventure: solo travel. She is an ambassador for Just You, a company specialising in holidays for people like her.
Over five years, between the ages of 35 and 40, Janet lost ten pregnancies with no medical explanation
Janet says: “Well, they came to me because up until five years ago, John was my travelling companion, and it had never occurred to me to go solo in any capacity. I admire people who do. I love that sort of ‘have-backpack-will-travel’ mentality, but it’s never been me. But I have to say, I’m so glad they did. You can make friends all the time, and experiences shared are doubled — joys, stories, even worries. I get so much more out of it being with other people.”
Her next holiday is a trip to Sicily next month but, as Sophie prepares to leave the country for months on tour, Janet will hold the fort, keeping Sonny fed and welcoming her other grandchildren through her door.
“Whatever happens to Sophie,” Janet says proudly, “She’s still my daughter. My little girl.”
Janet Ellis is an ambassador for Just You, exhibitors at Destinations: The Holiday & Travel show
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