‘I've got my moments where I'm super down and I really lose it, and I've got really bad days, and then I've got amazing days as well,' Maeva tells Grazia.
Nobody does no-nonsense honesty like Maeva D’Ascanio. Ever since the French beauty burst onto our screens on Made in Chelsea in 2019, Maeva has quickly become one of the show’s biggest stars, thanks to her ability to call people out, assert her boundaries and tell it like it is. And when it comes to motherhood, Maeva is just as open. The reality fave, who is married to MiC co-star James Taylor, is the mother of two-year-old son Beau. Far from lounging in fancy Chelsea pubs or perusing the designer shops down Bond Street, now a typical day for Maeva involves ‘a lot of activities’: swimming lessons, going to football, spending time in the park or doing groceries. ‘My child doesn't go to nursery yet, so he's always with me,’ Maeva explains. ‘We're always together. I never really get a break, so sometimes it can be tough, obviously. That’s the only thing.’ As hard as the hard parts are, it hasn’t stopped her and James from wanting to do it all again. ‘I hope he'll have a little brother or sister at some point,’ she says. Hailing from Paris, Maeva is keen to represent her roots when she’s at home with Beau. She and James speak to their son in French and English respectively, with Maeva explaining, ‘Obviously he's a bilingual baby, no matter what, and it's important for me for him to know both languages. He really understands when I joke with him and is very cheeky. He just gets everything.’
Between marriage and babies, Maeva’s life has changed drastically in the five years since she first appeared on Made in Chelsea, two years after her future husband James joined the cast. Yet the biggest change in her life since then, Maeva says, has mostly come down to her availability when it comes to work and her social life. ‘Nothing has changed for me since the marriage, I just feel closer to James. It's more the motherhood, which had a really big impact on just my life in general,’ she says. Being a full-time mother is Maeva’s ‘favourite job’, and she says, ‘I have to say that my child is absolutely amazing, obviously he's my child,’ she says. But the ‘terrible twos’ are approaching, and Beau is ‘very, very active, and I would say that he's not an easy baby, so it's a lot for me. It's constant. It's a lot of energy 24/7. He's very alert, he gets everything, understands everything. But he's quite hyperactive, I have to say, so it's very intense all the time. That's what's good about him as well.’ The hardest parts of motherhood for Maeva comes from her handling – or struggle to handle – stress. ‘I really enjoy being a mother, and I like being a full-time mum to be completely honest, I think it really suits me,’ she says. ‘My own problem is just myself. I don't know how to manage the stress well, which makes my life hard. All the organisation, all the things I have to do – it's more like how tired mentally I can be than physically, because it's a lot.’
I've got my moments where I'm super down and I really lose it, and I've got really bad days, and then I've got amazing days as well.
Having so much love and focus on her son, Maeva admits she can ‘miss some time for myself’. Her mum is currently visiting and helping her look after her son, and the influencer says she also leans on a friend who has a baby the same age as Beau. ‘I think it's good to have friends in the same situation that you can talk to when you feel quite down and a bit done with your day and they support you. You need some support,’ she says. ‘I've got my moments where I'm super down and I really lose it, and I've got really bad days, and then I've got amazing days as well.’ What she values most about spending so much time with Beau is the bond it’s allowed them to build. ‘We're obviously [spending] every day together, and we start to really have fun together. I love that he needs me all the time. He's very much in this mummy phase at the minute, and I love that, because I'm thinking, you know what? With everything I do for you, at least show me a bit of love in your way, that's what I deserve!’ She laughs. ‘And I love it!’
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