Billie Shepherd’s baby’s terrifying seizure: ‘Most scared I’ve ever been in my life’
EXCLUSIVE: In an exclusive chat with OK!, Billie Shepherd recalls her baby's terrifying seizure as she reflects on her experience of being on reality television for over 14 years
Billie Shepherd knows full well her life can look “perfect” from the outside, but she’s never scared to share what’s really going on. Take today’s exclusive photoshoot for OK!, for example.
The mum-of-three, whose youngest Margot turned one in December, has just finished juggling a full day working with the crew, while tending to Arthur, who is feeling under the weather.
“It’s been a long day but it is what it is,” Billie, 34, laughs, as she finally grabs a glass of water post-shoot. Billie’s daily juggle with her husband Greg, 39, and their three children – Nelly, nine, Arthur, seven, and their littlest Margot, 16 months – is laid bare every week on their ITVBe show, Billie & Greg: The Family Diaries.
In the most recent series, we saw the family settle into their stunning new home, which took “a lot of time and decisions” (something “I don’t think I’d ever do again”), and today, OK! is getting a tour of the renovated home.
Given all she’s got going on, does she actually have the time to enjoy the space now? “It’s really funny actually, because last night when everyone was in bed I was downstairs on my own, without the TV on or anything, just pottering and tidying things up for today.
“I was walking around and it was quiet, and I don’t know what it was but I had a moment. It sounds really sad but I just thought, ‘Oh my God we actually made it, we did this.’ Life is so busy and fast-paced at the moment that I don’t have many moments to myself like that.
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“We’ve made a big commitment and it wasn’t easy but now that we’re here, I’m so happy we did it. Now we just need some sunshine so we can get out in the garden!”
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Her favourite part of the house, she says, is the open-plan kitchen and dining area, where they spend "90%” of their time. Billie adds, “But equally, I love our bar, and we use it far more than I thought we would. Greg and I obviously don’t go out much so sometimes on a Saturday night we’ll go in there for a game of pool and a few drinks, it’s just nice.
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Billie continues: "And we love entertaining and having our friends over, so if I’m in the kitchen with the girls cooking and having a few glasses of wine, Greg and the boys are in the bar playing pool. Then after dinner we’ll all go in there, I love it.”
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The star has come a long way since she first appeared on TV on TOWIE more than a decade ago as a young, single Billie Faiers, alongside sister Sam.
She now also offers up plenty of reality on The Sam & Billie Show podcast she records with Sam. The pair have stayed as close as they were back in their TOWIE days, even now that they’re both busy, working mums.
“We absolutely love doing the pod,” Billie beams. “It’s really funny, she called me the other morning and we started just having a catch-up, and I went, ‘Oh, we’ve got the pod in an hour, we’ll catch up then.’ It’s time for us to actually catch up, because our lives are so busy.”
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Billie and Greg’s five-bedroom Essex home has also been a huge source of content on Family Diaries, with Billie taking the mammoth task of designing and decorating in her stride. But for the house-proud mum, it’s more than just bricks and mortar.
She says, “When I think about our old house, we had the best years there, we loved it. My mum lives there now which is lovely. Nelly and Arthur remember it, but this is the place they’ll all grow up and remember.”
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