Latest news with #HarryJudd
The Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Izzy Judd: ‘Therapy is one of the kindest things you can do for your mental wellbeing as a mum'
Izzy Judd has had therapy on and off for more than 20 years. And the mum-of-three, who's married to McFly drummer Harry Judd, is hoping that by talking candidly about how much she's gained from therapy, she'll encourage other mums – and particularly new ones – to seek therapy themselves if they have any problems, big or small. Judd, 41, who's a classically trained violinist and author, says: 'New mums often face their struggles alone, and there's a narrative that plays in our minds saying we should be able to cope. 'It feels like everyone else is coping, but actually more than half of new mums struggle with their mental wellbeing. The idea is to seek therapy and remove the stigma that therapy might suggest a feeling of failing, because actually, therapy is one of the kindest things you can do for your mental wellbeing as a mum. 'That's something I've always felt – it can be transformative.' She explains that her first experience of therapy was in her early 20s for anxiety, which she says was linked to her eldest brother Rupert having a serious car accident which left him with a severe brain injury. 'My family experienced a real trauma,' she recalls. 'That was back in 1997 and no therapy was offered to us at that time. I would've really benefitted from being able to talk about that trauma. 'Resulting from that, I really struggled with anxiety. I'd always, as a child, had a bit of anxiety, and in my early 20s the anxiety got so overwhelming I had my first experience of therapy. As I've gone through life there have been different moments where I've just felt I needed that support. 'I think therapy is part of the puzzle, certainly for me. Medication is one part, but you need therapy to support.' Judd, who had her first child Lola, now nine, through IVF and went on to conceive sons Kit, aged seven, and Lockie, three, naturally, says when she was a new mum what she really struggled with was leaving her home. 'I found it really, really difficult leaving the house – I felt safe at home, I could feed my baby, I could walk around in my pyjamas all day. 'I felt like the other people I'd met and made friends with at NCT all seemed to be coping a lot better. If I could speak to my new mum self it would have been just to say there really is no rush and you can be in this bubble as long as you need to be and it's fine.' Because it's something she can really relate to, Judd is now supporting the new Positive Steps campaign by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), which aims to encourage new mums to think of therapy as self-care. The campaign has been launched after BACP research found 69% of new mums think they're bombarded with advice which adds to – rather than alleviates – the pressures of motherhood. More than half of new mums questioned (51%) said they found it harder to cope with their mental wellbeing since having a baby, and 43% had considered having counselling for it, but hadn't accessed it. In addition, 66% of new parents say social media creates an overwhelming pressure to succeed, and Judd says: 'With the rise of social media, there's so much more comparison, and opinion and sometimes you can lose your way and not listen to your own intuition, which is more often than not the strongest voice to listen to.' Of course new mums talking to their partners and family about any problems they may be facing is also vital, and Judd reveals that after she's had therapy: 'Harry and I always have a bit of a joke because he'll say 'I told you that!'. 'But I think there's a place for both – there's a place for making sure you have an open dialogue with the people around you, especially as a new mum where you can't really express what you're finding difficult. 'As new mums we're really bad at asking for help – it doesn't feel instinctive, because we want to look after and be able to do everything as part of our maternal instinct, but actually turning to your partner to ask for help is absolutely crucial.' She says it can also be extremely useful to offload to a therapist too. 'They're trained experts,' she points out. 'Sometimes people might think how is that person going to solve my problems, or I'm going to talk for an hour and just feel like I've opened up, but then what? 'But actually, it isn't like that. It's almost like a filing system where you can organise your thoughts and concerns in a clearer way, and the therapist is very good at guiding you through and making sure you're getting the most from your sessions. 'Sometimes you just need the chance to offload, or to feel the emotions or to have a cry or a shout or whatever it might be.' As well as talking to her husband and having therapy, another thing Judd swears by is mindfulness. She's even written a book about it, Mindfulness for Mums, and says: 'It's summer holidays at the moment, so the juggle is very real, but I'm very aware of getting micro-moments, the glimmers in the day, whether it's walking the dog, getting out and having a bit of head space – I love practising mindfulness, and I try and share that with my kids. 'If I don't have the space in the day to get present, my brain loves to catastrophise and go into the future and start worrying, so I feel like I have to try and get present, and that's where mindfulness has been a real rock, and something that's really helped my kids as well – so much so that sometimes it backfires.' She happily explains how, usually around the children's bath time and teatime, 'You're so tired you just want somebody to feed you and put you to bed, and often I get het up and my daughter will say 'Mummy, shall we take five deep breaths?', because I do this thing on my hand where I trace the outline of my hand and take deep breaths. 'But I think that's great because she's got that tool, though when she says it to me I'm like 'Ohhh!'.' Judd says she feels 'lucky and in a privileged position' to be able to seek therapy. and acknowledges that it can be expensive. But she points out that the BACP is working with The Mum Club and MumsAid as part of the campaign to help new mums access therapy, and she adds: 'We've got to stop thinking of therapy as something which is an indulgence or a failing, and start looking at it as something that can really support you through the toughest periods of your life.' Izzy Judd is supporting the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)'s Positive Steps campaign to encourage new mums to think of therapy as self-care.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Harry and Izzy Judd look back: ‘When I first stayed at the McFly house, everything was done for him by his tour manager or PA'
Born in Essex in 1985, Harry Judd is best known as the drummer in McFly, one of the most successful 00s groups, with tracks such as Obviously and All About You. He has also performed with supergroup McBusted. Judd has three children with his wife, Izzy, a violinist. She hosts the podcast Let's Talk Neurodivergent Kids, available now on all platforms. This was in St Lucia, moments after I proposed to Izzy. We had flown in that afternoon and were jetlagged, but I wanted to get down on one knee straight away. Our lovely waitress came with drinks and took that photo. My expression? Probably relief. I had been so anxious about getting it right. As soon as we got on the sunbeds the next morning, Izzy immediately got a notepad and pen out. She was like: 'Right, so it's you, me, Mum, Dad …' I first met Izzy in Bristol in 2005. McFly were doing a radio show in a church and Izzy was one of the string players. Being only 19, I remember pulling up in our tour bus and saying to the other guys: 'I wonder what the girls in the orchestra will be like?' When we got inside, I shook her hand and instantly thought: 'Ooh, I fancy her.' She had a really kind and pretty face, and that's my thing. The orchestra were coming on tour with us, so I was looking forward to seeing Izzy every day. But shortly after our first meeting, she got the mumps and missed all the rehearsals and the first two weeks of shows. She did eventually join, but little did I know our management had told the musicians they weren't allowed to speak to the band. They'd handled a couple of groups before, and knew to avoid any drama, they should prevent us all from mixing. I would sometimes knock on the girls' dressing room door and ask if anyone wanted a cigarette, but Izzy would hide because she didn't want to get in trouble. On the night of our penultimate show, I got our security guy to go and tell Izzy that I needed a word with her. She thought she had done something wrong! But I just wanted to see her on her own. It was then we had our first kiss – at the St David's Hotel in Cardiff. The tour wrapped the next night and she came back on the bus with the band. After that, she never left. Everyone fancied Danny and Dougie, so it wasn't as if I was bombarded by fans all the time, but thankfully Izzy trusted me instinctively. I remember a couple of people around her saying: 'Be careful.' But I was never that showbiz. We are a band who like home comforts and to keep it real. Izzy was different from anyone I'd ever met – I didn't have to try to be anyone I wasn't. But at first there was a bit of an imbalance between us. Izzy is two years older, plus she's a girl – girls generally have it together more than men. She didn't drink, which caused a few issues when it came to partying, and she struggled with separation anxiety, which would put some pressure on our relationship. If I was out, she would call asking, 'When are you coming home?' and I'd be saying, 'You're so boring!' I had all this responsibility at such a young age – I was working all the time, I owned a property, I had a serious girlfriend, and most of my mates were still at uni having fun and being carefree. I wasn't ready to settle yet. So, when I was 23, we broke up for six months. I had been dealing with anxiety myself, and in that time apart, I realised it was time to stop drinking. Mostly it just hit home that I couldn't let this person go. Izzy is really caring. She brings me a cup of tea every morning. We have an unspoken set of jobs around the house, which is pretty much 50-50. I do the garden and bins, I cook and do the dishwasher. But she does more in terms of parenting, because the kids generally want Mummy. I couldn't do what she does as a mother. She is so selfless. Often it's 8.30pm before Izzy and I have had a chance to speak to each other, usually while lying in bed. From my experience of more than 10 years of marriage and having three children, I can see that things go wrong when people don't adjust to the mundane realities of everyday life – the bills, mortgages, tantrums, food shops and school drop-offs. It also helps if you can have a sense of humour about it – Izzy and I are always laughing about the endless lunacy of being a parent. We had a reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin at our wedding. I always think about the line 'Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground' – a sentiment that, 20 years in, has never been more true. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion I had some suspicion that Harry might propose on holiday, but I didn't think he'd do it the first night. So even though I had loads of lovely dresses with me, I threw on a black vest instead, not thinking it would be a big moment. After the proposal, we ate steak and dauphinoise potatoes, and I had non-alcoholic champagne. It was an out-of-body experience, but my expression is one of contentment. I'd come out of a long relationship when we met, and I'd lost my grandmother a few months before, so I was not in the headspace to fall in love. But … I really fancied him. He was more tactile than anybody I had been with, and we could just talk and talk. He was great with my family, too. My oldest brother, Rupert, was in a car crash when he was 18, and has a serious brain injury. I took Harry to meet him early on in our relationship – it meant a lot that he was able to be relaxed around Rupert. Sometimes those micro moments are more important than any grand gesture of romance. The first morning I stayed over at the McFly house, I woke to the sound of his tour manager banging on the door. That was Harry's alarm. Everything was done for him, either by a tour manager or their lovely PA, Wendy – from cashing cheques to booking Valentine's Day dinners. In spite of that, McFly are the nicest boys. Which has made the strange, inconsistent experience of being in a band easier for Harry. Especially as we definitely don't have a Wendy to help any more! Having children has shaped our relationship completely. When we decided to start trying for a baby, we had a miscarriage, which was so difficult; we really grieved. After that, we ended up doing IVF – which was successful in the end, but also an incredibly lonely experience. A lot of those feelings of isolation are really similar to raising a neurodivergent child. But it's also given us both so much perspective: we are constantly advocating for them, and staying focused on our intuition about what's right for our family. I couldn't have gone through what I've been through without Harry's loyalty and support. Whenever we get a chance, Harry and I go for brunch and then see a matinee musical – we're too knackered to do evenings! Even after all these years, I still find him as interesting as I did when we first met.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Harry and Izzy Judd look back: ‘When I first stayed at the McFly house, everything was done for him by his tour manager or PA'
Born in Essex in 1985, Harry Judd is best known as the drummer in McFly, one of the most successful 00s groups, with tracks such as Obviously and All About You. He has also performed with supergroup McBusted. Judd has three children with his wife, Izzy, a violinist. She hosts the podcast Let's Talk Neurodivergent Kids, available now on all platforms. This was in St Lucia, moments after I proposed to Izzy. We had flown in that afternoon and were jetlagged, but I wanted to get down on one knee straight away. Our lovely waitress came with drinks and took that photo. My expression? Probably relief. I had been so anxious about getting it right. As soon as we got on the sunbeds the next morning, Izzy immediately got a notepad and pen out. She was like: 'Right, so it's you, me, Mum, Dad …' I first met Izzy in Bristol in 2005. McFly were doing a radio show in a church and Izzy was one of the string players. Being only 19, I remember pulling up in our tour bus and saying to the other guys: 'I wonder what the girls in the orchestra will be like?' When we got inside, I shook her hand and instantly thought: 'Ooh, I fancy her.' She had a really kind and pretty face, and that's my thing. The orchestra were coming on tour with us, so I was looking forward to seeing Izzy every day. But shortly after our first meeting, she got the mumps and missed all the rehearsals and the first two weeks of shows. She did eventually join, but little did I know our management had told the musicians they weren't allowed to speak to the band. They'd handled a couple of groups before, and knew to avoid any drama, they should prevent us all from mixing. I would sometimes knock on the girls' dressing room door and ask if anyone wanted a cigarette, but Izzy would hide because she didn't want to get in trouble. On the night of our penultimate show, I got our security guy to go and tell Izzy that I needed a word with her. She thought she had done something wrong! But I just wanted to see her on her own. It was then we had our first kiss – at the St David's Hotel in Cardiff. The tour wrapped the next night and she came back on the bus with the band. After that, she never left. Everyone fancied Danny and Dougie, so it wasn't as if I was bombarded by fans all the time, but thankfully Izzy trusted me instinctively. I remember a couple of people around her saying: 'Be careful.' But I was never that showbiz. We are a band who like home comforts and to keep it real. Izzy was different from anyone I'd ever met – I didn't have to try to be anyone I wasn't. But at first there was a bit of an imbalance between us. Izzy is two years older, plus she's a girl – girls generally have it together more than men. She didn't drink, which caused a few issues when it came to partying, and she struggled with separation anxiety, which would put some pressure on our relationship. If I was out, she would call asking, 'When are you coming home?' and I'd be saying, 'You're so boring!' I had all this responsibility at such a young age – I was working all the time, I owned a property, I had a serious girlfriend, and most of my mates were still at uni having fun and being carefree. I wasn't ready to settle yet. So, when I was 23, we broke up for six months. I had been dealing with anxiety myself, and in that time apart, I realised it was time to stop drinking. Mostly it just hit home that I couldn't let this person go. Izzy is really caring. She brings me a cup of tea every morning. We have an unspoken set of jobs around the house, which is pretty much 50-50. I do the garden and bins, I cook and do the dishwasher. But she does more in terms of parenting, because the kids generally want Mummy. I couldn't do what she does as a mother. She is so selfless. Often it's 8.30pm before Izzy and I have had a chance to speak to each other, usually while lying in bed. From my experience of more than 10 years of marriage and having three children, I can see that things go wrong when people don't adjust to the mundane realities of everyday life – the bills, mortgages, tantrums, food shops and school drop-offs. It also helps if you can have a sense of humour about it – Izzy and I are always laughing about the endless lunacy of being a parent. We had a reading from Captain Corelli's Mandolin at our wedding. I always think about the line 'Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground' – a sentiment that, 20 years in, has never been more true. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion I had some suspicion that Harry might propose on holiday, but I didn't think he'd do it the first night. So even though I had loads of lovely dresses with me, I threw on a black vest instead, not thinking it would be a big moment. After the proposal, we ate steak and dauphinoise potatoes, and I had non-alcoholic champagne. It was an out-of-body experience, but my expression is one of contentment. I'd come out of a long relationship when we met, and I'd lost my grandmother a few months before, so I was not in the headspace to fall in love. But … I really fancied him. He was more tactile than anybody I had been with, and we could just talk and talk. He was great with my family, too. My oldest brother, Rupert, was in a car crash when he was 18, and has a serious brain injury. I took Harry to meet him early on in our relationship – it meant a lot that he was able to be relaxed around Rupert. Sometimes those micro moments are more important than any grand gesture of romance. The first morning I stayed over at the McFly house, I woke to the sound of his tour manager banging on the door. That was Harry's alarm. Everything was done for him, either by a tour manager or their lovely PA, Wendy – from cashing cheques to booking Valentine's Day dinners. In spite of that, McFly are the nicest boys. Which has made the strange, inconsistent experience of being in a band easier for Harry. Especially as we definitely don't have a Wendy to help any more! Having children has shaped our relationship completely. When we decided to start trying for a baby, we had a miscarriage, which was so difficult; we really grieved. After that, we ended up doing IVF – which was successful in the end, but also an incredibly lonely experience. A lot of those feelings of isolation are really similar to raising a neurodivergent child. But it's also given us both so much perspective: we are constantly advocating for them, and staying focused on our intuition about what's right for our family. I couldn't have gone through what I've been through without Harry's loyalty and support. Whenever we get a chance, Harry and I go for brunch and then see a matinee musical – we're too knackered to do evenings! Even after all these years, I still find him as interesting as I did when we first met.
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
McFly star says super fan at Swansea show was the sweetest
McFly's Harry Judd said super fan Joel Oates was "just the sweetest" after meeting him at a show following a chance encounter with his mum at a service Cerasuolo bumped into the band at Heston services on the M4 on her way home to Port Talbot and told them what a big fan her 24-year-old son had not bought tickets to their show at Tunes On The Bay festival at Swansea Beach because she did not think the family would make it after a trip to London, but Judd said they could get the family in for said after dedicating a song to Joel, who has Down's syndrome, "the whole crowd were like chanting his name - it was so cool". Speaking on the Alex and Harry podcast on Thursday, the McFly drummer said he had seen Joel in the crowd and described him as "just the sweetest" when he and his family came to meet them after the show. "He was like, 'right boys, I've got a couple of questions for you. First off, Tom, he's like, can I come to yours for Christmas?' Which was just too sweet."Tom said: 'Yeah sure'." Then Joel asked if he could join the band, "which of course we said yes to," Judd added. "He said he can jump around a lot, he can sing. And I said, 'that's pretty much what we do. You're in Joe'."Clare previously said she had taken Joel to Southend to see the band before and it took seven hours to get there."Every time we go he says I hope we could meet them and the fact he did meet them - well he is still on cloud nine."
Scottish Sun
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
McFly star Harry Judd wears £1,000 ‘recovery' boots after ‘brutal' London Marathon race
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MCFLY star Harry Judd will be back on his feet in no time with these £1,000 compression boots after his "brutal" London Marathon race. The pop star, 39, shared a photo of him in bed wearing the boots and proudly holding his medal. 5 Harry Judd sported £1,000 recovery boots after his 'brutal' London Marathon race Credit: Instagram/Harry Judd 5 The McFly star proudly wore his medal around his neck Credit: Instagram/Harry Judd 5 The singer will be back on his feet in no time with these compression boots Credit: Instagram/Harry Judd The padded item covered his feet up to his waist and is meant to provide air compression massage that helps legs to feel refreshed faster. Alongside the smiling photo, Harry wrote: "I absolute LOVE these compression boots! Especially after yesterday! Recovery cheat code! "I'll be wearing the medal most of the week." On Sunday, Harry was full of emotion after completing 26 miles in hot conditions. He shared a photo of him in an orange vest with sweat beads rolling down his face. He wrote: "Wow that was brutal! The heat was intense. "I knew at around 14k the sub 3 wasn't happening. "I went through half way at 1:30 and then the second half was one hell of a grind. "I'm more proud of my 1:45 second half because every part of me wanted to stop and walk. Moment protesters storm elite men's race at London Marathon before being tackled to ground in dramatic footage "I was running with my eyes closed at certain points! Definitely the hardest of the six marathons I've done. "Thinking of Children's Trust during the difficult times and all of you that have donated helped pull me through too." Harry then praised his wife Izzy "for supporting me all the way as always". He also shared an emotional moment with his mum after finishing the race and thanked her for "always supporting him". The musician and drummer also shared a shout out to TV presenter Joel Dommett, who fainted while running the London Marathon and woke up in an ambulance. Harry added: "Joel Dommett you legend for finishing considering what you went through. "Love our enthusiasm at the beginning, we had no idea what was coming." The Masked Singer host was taking on the gruelling 26.2-mile London Marathon for the second year running. But things took a dramatic turn at mile 17 when he collapsed and woke up in the back of an ambulance. He was supported by his wife Hannah and little boy Wilde, and he thanked the medics who took care of him. Sharing his day with fans, Joel, 39, said: 'Not the race I expected! 'I fainted at mile 17 – don't really remember much but I woke up in an ambulance! 'Thanks to Frankie and Barry for being amazing.' Despite the scare, a determined Joel didn't throw in the towel. He added: 'I really wanted to finish it. After a few hours my pulse was back and I got going again at a very different pace but really got to soak it all in. Proud of myself for finishing.' And he wasn't short of celebrity support. McFly's Harry replied to his post: 'That is a heroic effort mate! You were not in a good way when I saw you! Well done for getting back out and finishing. Huge respect!' Adventurer Bear Grylls gave Joel a virtual fist bump, adding: 'Never give up! Well done.' Snowboarder Aimee Fuller also praised his grit, saying: 'Unreal. Well done – would have stopped!' The London Marathon, one of the world's biggest long-distance races, sees thousands of runners hit the capital's streets each April, raising millions for charity. The race was won by Kenyan novice Sabastian Sawe, while Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa broke the women's-only world record, Joe Wicks, Alexandra Burke, and Kelly Brook were also among the other famous faces running the course. 5 Harry shared an emotional moment with his mum after finishing the race Credit: Instagram / @harryjudd
