Musings On Motherhood With Cressida Bonas

15 hours ago

Ina Yulo Stuve sits down with one half of the Lessons From Our Mothers podcast

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With the culmination of the first season of her podcast Lessons From Our Mothers, Cressida Bonas speaks with Ina Yulo Stuve about her learnings, and her thoughts on becoming a new mother again.

Cressida Bonas On Her Podcast, Lessons From Our Mothers

‘When it comes to motherhood, I had this image of a woman sitting under a tree with a peaceful baby wrapped in a blanket in the sun, looking all glowy. But it’s just not that, is it? You have sick down your top, it’s in your hair, and your child is screaming,’ says actress, model, podcast host and mother-of-two Cressida Bonas. We speak via video call, Cressida apologising for not being able to meet in person: we are just a week away from her due date. (Her second child, Delphina Pandora, is born shortly after our interview.)

We laugh at the many unglamorous facets of motherhood as I try to entertain my own five-month-old daughter Cecilia, who briefly joins our call after letting out a dramatic cry from the next room. We connect easily, trading stories about fertility struggles, challenging births, and the identity crisis that comes with finally becoming a mother. ‘Hopefully, one day, I’d love to be back in the theatre again,’ she muses. ‘But I also want to be there for bedtime and tea time. That’s really important to me.’

Cressida and Isabella

Earlier this year, Cressida and her sister Isabella Branson launched a new podcast, Lessons From Our Mothers, where they spoke with a formidable line-up of celebrities, royal figures and parenting experts on the joys, tribulations and complicated feelings entangled in the conversations around motherhood.

‘You hear so many different stories and it’s just been really beautiful, and really quite emotional as well,’ she shares. ‘The love I feel for my son is a love that I wouldn’t even be able to describe because at times it feels so visceral, but it’s also very challenging,’ she adds, describing how she sees children as mirrors who reflect the flaws of their parents.

She recounts the grief of losing her sister Pandora at the same time raising a toddler: ‘I had no choice but to be present with my son instead of being in that place of grief. And I realised that all children really want from you is, not to be perfect, but to be present with them in the moment.’

Cressida and Isabella with their mother Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon

The podcast idea was sparked by her mother falling ill last year, Cressida shares; the unfortunate news made the sisters realise there was still so much they didn’t know about the woman who had shaped their lives so deeply. It prompted them to start recording their mother Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon’s life stories, to finally get answers to the questions they always wanted to ask.

Across 13 episodes, Cressida and Isabella’s calm and welcoming nature encourage their guests to reveal the candid moments, failures, and unforgettable learnings they’ve picked up from the mother figures in their lives. Poignant moments include British journalist Clover Stroud opening up about her relationship with a mother who suffered severe brain damage after a tragic accident, culinary icon Mary Berry recalling losing her teenage son in a car crash, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie disclosing the secret code their mother Sarah Ferguson created to remind them to be on their best behaviour when dining with Queen Elizabeth II.

Lessons From Our Mothers ended its first season in the number two spot on the Parenting charts on Apple Podcasts. The final episode aired in mid-June, an interview with former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell Horner, discussing how she played the maternal role in the band and how she manages screen time with her children. Now the sister duo is gearing up for a second season, commencing in September with Academy-award winning actress Kate Winslet as their first guest.