The Strictly Come Dancing favourite has revealed the emotional toll of juggling her demanding entertainment career with raising her three-year-old daughter, Lyra, admitting that finding the right balance between work and family life remains a constant struggle.

Married to fellow Strictly professional Aljaž Škorjanec, Janette has built a career filled with dancing, television presenting and stage performances. But behind the glamour and applause lies a far more personal challenge. Spending six months touring the UK and Ireland as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago meant extended periods away from her young daughter — a sacrifice that has made the competing demands of motherhood and professional ambition especially difficult.

Janette explained that when she is at home, she wants to devote herself entirely to Lyra and family life, switching off from the pressures of work. Yet when she returns to the stage, she has to put those feelings aside as much as possible to give her performance the attention it deserves. It is a delicate emotional balancing act, and one that offers little room for an easy solution.

Her candid admission also comes after a period of professional change, following her and Fleur East’s departure from presenting Strictly: It Takes Two, with Ellie Taylor taking over. For a performer whose career has involved so many different roles, these changes add another layer to a chapter already marked by difficult decisions about where her time and energy should go.

What makes Janette’s story so relatable is that she is not pretending to have everything figured out. Her words capture a familiar dilemma for working parents: wanting to give everything to a career while never wanting to miss precious moments with their children. For many mothers, that tension can bring both pride and guilt, even when they love the work they do.

Source: Compiled from various sources