Mark Wright became a first-time dad in March when he welcomed his baby daughter, Palma, with wife Michelle Keegan.
The 38-year-old will no doubt be getting used to nappy changes and sleepless nights, but it appears the extent of how tired he would be has caught him off guard. On Saturday morning, the former reality star appeared on his Heart Radio show when a caller spoke about how “tiring” they found organising their clothes.
In response, Mark said: “Lisa, I’m going to go back to what you just said there, it’s very tiring sorting your clothes in your room – don’t talk to me about tired right now. Because Palma, my little baby, is making me extremely tired. I turned up this morning and Olly [Murs] went ‘you look shattered.'”
Olly, who became a father for the first time last year, then joked: “You know what, it’s your eyes, it is the first time I’ve seen these little bags in all the years I’ve known you, just here, and it is a dad thing, it is a parent thing, all of a sudden you get these little bags under your eyes.”
© Ken McKay/ITV/ShutterstockMark then added: “Yeah, they say ‘dad bod’, don’t they? They never warn you about dad eyes.”
Despite this, the former Strictly finalist revealed how much he loved being a father. “It is the best thing ever,” he gushed. “Except when I am trying to wind her after a bottle at 2am, nightmare.”
Mark’s parenting anxiety
Before becoming a dad, Mark revealed that he wasn’t looking forward to designing his young daughter’s crib. During an appearance on The One Show, the star admitted there were “exciting times ahead” but it was also “nerve-wracking” before fellow guest Sindhu Vee asked him about his own DIY skills.
© Instagram / @michkeegan“I want to tell you, you’re clearly very good at DIY, you have a TV show, but I look forward to your first crib from any shop that you have to put together,” she said. “Take out those instructions.”
Mark replied by saying: “It’s tough,” as Sindhu continued: “I thought I was good at DIY and then I had to do that and I thought, ‘This kid isn’t going to survive.’ So, I gave it to someone else. It’s insane levels of this screw, that screw and it’s your baby so it’s insane levels of ‘is this right?'”
Mark’s praise for Michelle
The father-of-one has spoken several times on his Heart Radio show about becoming a father, using one of his first appearances after becoming a dad to praise his other half. “Obviously hats off to my wife, she is an absolute superhuman, a superhero for bringing this baby into the world,” he told his co-host.
© Getty Images for Atlantis The Ro“It makes you realise what our mums did for us and makes me have so much more respect than I already had and what women had to go through.”
Recalling the moment he held baby Palma in his arms for the first time, he said: “That moment when I held her in my arms, it gets me emotional now thinking about it.”
