Steps star Ian “H” Watkins has spoken out about the challenges of being a single parent during the pandemic.
The singer is father to twin boys Macsen and Cybi, five, who were born via a surrogate in 2016, but says he has been a single parent “virtually from the beginning” after splitting from his former partner Craig Ryder the following year.
Watkins is currently getting ready for the much-anticipated Steps‘ comeback – with an arena tour planned for later this year following the announcement of the band’s reunion in 2020 – but is also juggling the showbiz side of his life with looking after his boys.
With COVID-19 turning the world upside down in the past 18 months, parents have faced the extra challenges of home schooling and keeping children entertained when they were stuck at home, unable to see friends or enjoy their usual hobbies.
Life as a single father can be “tough” and “a little bit crazy”, Watkins tells Sky News, but he wants to highlight that modern family life is changing.
Advertisement
“I have been a single parent virtually from the beginning, I guess, so I know exactly what it’s like to be outnumbered if you are single parent out there,” he tells Sky News. “It’s tough… There is no traditional family unit anymore. Families come in all shapes and sizes.
“When it comes to single parent families, I’m outnumbered, completely. So I have to divide my time and I have to devote attention to what’s needed. I am a little bit of a, well, 90%, I’d say, I’m bad cop because I have to be, you know, I do rule my children with discipline, but I also put the fun dad hat on as well. So it’s a juggling act, really. And it’s tough.”
More on Covid-19
Watkins spoke out about his own experiences following research by family holiday site Vrbo suggesting that more than half (56%) of single parents have not had a proper break in more than two years.
“You need a break, especially after the year-and-a-half that we’ve had,” says Watkins. “I mean, that was unexpected and crazy.”
Getaways in the UK might be easier now than they were during lockdown, but with the traffic light system for travelling abroad ever changing, that is not so easy to plan for.
“I think if we were singing off the same hymn sheet, that would make life a lot easier,” says Watkins, referring to the differing rules across the UK. “I personally think that what [First Minister] Mark Drakeford is doing in Wales is a good thing. I think Boris [Johnson] has been way too lackadaisical. I think it would be nice to have a bit of a happy medium.”
As lockdown measures lift, Watkins has this message for other single parents: “Just keep going. Stay strong. You have got this.”
A former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs has told his sex trafficking trial how a whirlwind romance opened a “Pandora’s box” of sex sessions with male escorts that she did not know how to stop.
The witness, who is testifying under the pseudonym “Jane”, alleges the hip-hop mogul coerced her into participating in drug-fuelled “debauchery” nights throughout their relationship, which began in 2021 and ended when he was arrested in September 2024.
She began her evidence on a dramatic day at the Manhattan court, taking to the stand not long after Judge Arun Subramanian issued a warning to Combs‘s lawyers after seeing the rapper “nodding vigorously” towards the jury during earlier testimony.
If the “totally unacceptable” behaviour happens again during the trial, the judge said, he could take steps to remove the defendant from the courtroom.
Image: Combs with his lawyers ahead of the day’s testimony. Pic: Reuters.
Jane is one of three alleged victims of Combs giving evidence during his trial, and her allegations mirror those given by his former long-term partner Cassie Ventura.
Both women said the rapper would sit in the corner and masturbate as he watched them have sex, and that the sessions would often last for more than 24 hours with “no sleep”.
Combs, 55, is accused of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In court on Thursday, he often looked straight at Jane as she gave evidence.
The single mother began her testimony by describing her whirlwind romance with Combs, saying he made her feel special and showered her with love and gifts in the first few months from January 2021.
Asked what happened in May 2021, she bowed her head and became emotional as she told the court how Combs started to talk about fantasies of role play with other men.
One night, he told her he could make the fantasy a reality, she says – and did so straight away.
Jane told the court she agreed to having sex with the male escort because she wanted to make Combs happy – and even “felt excited” afterwards after doing something “taboo”.
However, she said she thought it was a one-off. Instead, “it opened a Pandora’s box” and “set the tone” going forward, she said.
After that first night in May 2021, Jane said she was having sex with other men “90%” of the time.
Asked if this is what she wanted, she said it wasn’t, but that she “went along with it because I loved him at this point”.
Combs kept pushing her into these sex sessions, and she felt “obligated” to go along with it, she said. He also had control over her life in other ways, she told the court, including by paying the rent on her home.
But as their relationship continued, she said she did tell him, “many times”, she did not want to keep having sex with other men, but he would dismiss her, make her feel uncomfortable, or seemingly threaten to stop paying her rent.
These encounters were referred to as “debauchery” or hotel nights, she told the court, and they always followed the same pattern – “hotel suites, red lights, music, lotions and alcohol, there would be bed sheets covering everything, blankets and towels, because of the excessive use of baby oil everywhere”.
Jane said she would “have drugs in my system” and wear “provocative” lingerie and “high stripper shoes”, and Combs would ask her to pour baby oil on the men and on herself.
These sessions typically lasted between 24 and 30 hours, she said, with “no sleep”.
In her testimony, Cassie Ventura told of similar sexual encounters, which Combs referred to as “freak offs”, she said.
Jane’s evidence is set to continue on Friday and on several days next week.
A-ha frontman Morten Harket has revealed he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The 65-year-old has been lead singer of the Norwegian band since it was founded in 1982 – and sung the track “Take On Me” which remains one of the most popular songs of the 1980s.
In a statement on the band’s website, and confirmed by record label Sony Music, Harket said he had undergone several rounds of brain surgery and that he was managing the symptoms of the disease.
Parkinson’s causes deterioration in the brain’s nervous system, leading to tremors and other symptoms that can become progressively worse over time.
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Known for the wide range of his voice, Harket said he did not know if he would be able to perform again.
“I’ve got no problem accepting the diagnosis,” he said, adding that it was difficult to balance medication and managing side effects of the treatment.
“I’m trying the best I can to prevent my entire system from going into decline,” Harket said.
Formed in 1982 by Harket and his friends Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen, A-ha saw a global breakthrough in 1985 with their debut album “Hunting High and Low” featuring “Take On Me” and the hit “The Sun Always Shines on TV”.
Singer Jessie J has been diagnosed with “early breast cancer”.
The Price Tag singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, said in a video posted to Instagram that she has recently spent a lot of time “in and out of tests”.
She said she will “disappear for a bit” after performing at Capital Radio’s Summertime Ball later this month to have surgery.
“I was diagnosed with early breast cancer,” the 37-year-old said during the video.
“Cancer sucks in any form, but I’m holding on to the word ‘early’.
“It’s a very dramatic way to get a boob job. I am going to disappear for a bit after Summertime Ball to have my surgery, and I will come back with massive tits and more music.”
Image: Jessie J at the BAFTA awards earlier this year. Pic: PA
‘I need a hug’
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in the UK.
The singer said sharing her diagnosis publicly has helped her process the news and show solidarity with others going through a similar experience.
“I just wanted to be open and share it,” she said.
“One, because, selfishly, I do not talk about it enough. I’m not processing it because I’m working so hard.
“I also know how much sharing in the past has helped me with other people giving me their love and support and also their own stories. I’m an open book.
“It breaks my heart that so many people are going through so much similar and worse – that’s the bit that kills me.”
She continued: “The timing of it has been mad but also beautiful and given me this incredible perspective in this time.
“But honestly I need to process it and talk about it and, I need a hug. You have loved me through all my good and hard times. And I don’t want this to be any different.”
‘I’m here for you’
Messages of support from celebrities flooded the comments section under the singer’s post.
Former Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock wrote: “Sending you so much love.”
Fellow singer Rita Ora said: “You’re literally my favourite person and I’m praying for you, you’ve got this. My mother had it and I know the surgery and any treatment on this matter is mentally tough, so I’m here for you.”
London-born singer Jessie J welcomed her son, Sky Safir Cornish Colman, in 2023, having miscarried in November 2021.
She has battled with ill health throughout her life, having been diagnosed with a heart condition aged eight, suffering a minor stroke aged 18 and having briefly gone deaf in 2020.