Strictly’s Janette Manrara shares sweet update on baby daughter

Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara has opened up about life as a new mum to baby daughter Lyra.

The It Takes Two host welcomed her first child with former Strictly dancer Aljaž Škorjanec in July this year.

Talking exclusively to Digital Spy at Best's Heroes Awards last week (18 October), Janette shared an update on how mum, dad and baby are all doing.

"She’s incredible. She’s the best, best baby," she said of Lyra. "I think we really lucked out because she sleeps alright, she doesn’t cry a lot and she’s just happy, she smiles all the time."

Janette added that it "feels really natural" being a mother to her and admitted that seeing husband Aljaž as a dad has only strengthened their relationship.

"I was already in love with him before but to see him now," she told us. "He’s such a good father to Lyra. It changes everything and takes our relationship to the next level.

"He’s doing daddy daycare at the moment whilst I’m down in London filming It Takes Two. So there’s lots of FaceTimes and lots of videos going forward to see how she’s doing."

Janette revealed that Aljaž and Lyra are her biggest cheerleaders, with the two sitting down to watch every episode of It Takes Two.

"He sends me photos of the two of them sat on the couch watching me on telly, so that makes me proud," she said. "I love working, I’ve always loved what I do, so I’m very happy to come back to work as I missed it. But at the same time, I have the best job of my life now of being a mother to Lyra."

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She added: "Hopefully one day she’ll look back and be like, 'My mum was cool, my mum is a bit of a badass'."

Weighing on this year's Strictly class, Janette said "everyone's so good". "It's literally anyone's game," she told Digital Spy. "I'm intrigued to see what's going to happen."

Sunday's results show saw Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer leave the competition, with 11 couples going through to dance another week.

Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Tickets for Strictly's 2024 live arena tour are available now.