Stacey Solomon admits 'hardest thing' of sharing a blended family with rarely-seen ex

Stacey Solomon has opened up about how she makes her blended family work with 17-year-old Zach's dad, who makes a rare appearance on her BBC One show. The former X Factor winner, 35, is a mum of five and welcomed her eldest Zach with ex-boyfriend Dean Cox when she was just 17 herself.

She also shares Leighton, 13, with ex-fiancé Aaron Barnham, Rex, five, Rose, three, and two-year-old Belle with husband Joe Swash. When they married in 2022, Stacey became a stepmum to Joe's son from a previous relationship, 17-year-old Harry.

In next week's episode of her reality series Stacey and Joe, the TV presenter opens up about co-parenting Zach with her ex and childhood sweetheart Dean Cox, who was 20 at the time of Zach's birth.

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"Outside of the emotional part of having a blended family, I'd say the hardest thing is logistics," Stacey says. "There is no room for error. You have to be super organised, otherwise I'll drive to the school to pick up Leighton, and he's not even there because it's his dad's weekend."

Joe adds, "They've either got clubs or they're round their friends houses or they might be with their dads so every now and then, we get everyone in one place and we love it."

The couple, who began dating in 2016, admit that their Essex home, Pickle Cottage, has become a hub for their very large family. "Pickle Cottage is like a magnet, everyone comes here and I won't say that that's by choice. I'd say we've created that," Stacey says. Joe chips, "We've created a monster. We're a little bit like Jesus.

"He made the bread go and feed the five thousand. our house, we can start off for dinner just the five of us and we can have another six people arrive - but we make it work." In next week's third episode, Stacey and Joe celebrate Zach's 17th birthday with their clan - as well as Dean and his partner Nicky.

"In this scenario, it's all about the child," Stacey says. "It's better for them that they've got these two families that absolutely love the bones off them than to be fighting over them. That was be horrible for them."

Joe reveals that he can put himself in Dean's shoes. "I know how important it is to make sure dads stay in their kids' lives. I know what it's like having someone else in their life so for me, I just want to bridge that gap and make it easy for them."

Stacey tries to emulate her own parents, who split when she was nine. "I try my hardest to create that same atmosphere. I'm still not doing it as well as my mum and dad did. They smashed it," she says.

"Mum and dad got divorced and at the time, we obviously didn't know why and what went on but they remained the best of friends. My dad moved on the same road, they shared the week, they split it in half, 50-50."

Stacey adds that Zach may be a credit to her, but she can't take sole credit for his upbringing. "Zach was raised by his dad, my sister, my brother-in-law, my mum, my dad, his nan,” she says. “There’s no way Zack would be who he is today without all of us."

Although both she and Dean don't want him to follow in their footsteps by becoming a father at such a young age. "Can you imagine Zach having a baby now? It's relative, right?" Dean's partner Nicky says, while Dean replies: "Please don't."

The famous couple's BBC series follows them as they tackle parenthood, exploring the challenges of raising six children and managing their TV careers.

Stacey and Joe continues on BBC One at 8pm on Tuesday.

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