Rochelle Humes: Learning To Be At Peace With Uncertainty | E118

Rochelle Humes joins Steven Bartlett to discuss growing up with an absent father, finding peace through acceptance rather than resentment, and later reconnecting with half-siblings. She reflects on her time in The Saturdays and the loss of control that comes with fame, then explains how she built her brand My Little Coco and the all-consuming reality of entrepreneurship. A major focus is the backlash she faced filming a documentary on Black maternal mortality, when she was accused of not being 'black enough' and received death threats. She closes on learning to say no, managing herself for control, and making decisions at 51 percent certainty.

• A man walked into the family shop when she was about 12 claiming to be her uncle, with compelling evidence proving the relationship.
  00:03:08
• She reconnected with her half-siblings years later after a Love Island contestant at a Christmas party connected her to her sister.
  00:11:33
• While filming her Black maternal mortality documentary, a post claimed she had taken a darker-skinned woman's place fronting the show.
  00:56:46
• She received death threats and was scared to take her child to nursery during the documentary backlash.
  01:06:44
• She did not take any money from the documentary, gave it to charity, and it actually cost her money.
  01:09:52
• During the backlash she turned off all comments, cried for 48 hours, and Marvin took her phone for the weekend.
  01:10:55
• She challenges the double standard where dads get praised as heroes for parenting while mothers are judged for working.
  01:21:43

• Her mother told her some daddies aren't very good at looking after little girls, a story Rochelle now realizes was made up on the spot.
  00:03:39
• She grew up in a white family and felt she constantly had to explain that her sister, who looked nothing like her, was her sister.
  00:16:45
• The Saturdays' early dressing rooms were sometimes toilets; success was a grind, not overnight fame.
  00:25:34
• She returned to performing on national TV three and a half weeks after giving birth, wearing Spanx and dealing with leaking breasts.
  00:26:04
• Little Mix visited The Saturdays' tour rehearsals and asked for advice before their own fame.
  00:29:40
• My Little Coco launched with seven products and took three years of development before reaching stores, just before the pandemic.
  00:34:51
• Retailers initially told her there was 'no need' for afro/curly hair products; Boots committed to the full range.
  00:37:59
• She has been in the entertainment industry since age 12, starting in S Club Juniors.
  01:24:20
• Obama, whom she heard speak in Brazil, inspired her 51 percent certainty decision-making philosophy via the Bin Laden raid story.
  01:28:31
• She was born in Africa and her mother is Nigerian, which she cited against accusations she wasn't 'black enough'.
  00:53:04

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