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'I get compared to Angelina enough': Sara Cox on why more kids aren't on the agenda

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Now a busy mum-of-three, Sara Cox couldn't be happier.In fact, the former 'ladette' is so content juggling her career with her manic home life with her Mr Right – advertising executive Ben Cryzer, 35 – and her three children, that she feels their family is complete.

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"We were very blessed and lucky to get Renee so I think we're done," says the 37-year-old mum to Isaac, four, two-year-old Renee (below, going home from the hospital), plus Lola, seven, from her marriage to DJ Jon Carter. "Otherwise we might get known as that big crazy family. There's always one on the street that's got like 15 kids plus a dog. "I mean, I already get compared enough to

Angelina Jolie because of my unique beauty. I don't want my family situation to prompt the comparisons as well," she jokes. The bubbly TV presenter and Radio DJ spoke to HELLO! Online about "life after kids", her thoughts on turning 40, and what happened when she swapped gravy tips with the Duchess of Cambridge.

You've been working on a Nestlé Cereals campaign to highlight the importance of starting the day with a good breakfast. Do you sit down and have breakfast together as a family?

"We do actually. But my other half doesn't because he's got to be at work quite early. Though part of me suspects that he just pretends to escape the complete mad house that it is in the mornings."

It is a bit rushed in the mornings?

"It is really manic. And every morning I promise myself I'm not going to morph into a shouty mum. "Sometimes me and Lola have bets to see whether I'll be able to get to the school gates without having raised my voice. But there's only so many times I can say 'Put your shoes on' before I get a bit more shrill."

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Is Lola good at getting up? "She's all right. She's like me though, she likes her bed. She's just like me when I was little in that she's a bit of a night owl and she'd stay up all night if she could. But then she's shattered in the morning and she doesn't really want to get up. "Isaac, the middle one is amazing. He loves going to bed. He's at that age where he's stopped having naps, so he must feel shattered by bedtime. He's just turned four and the baby, Renee's just turned two! The time goes by so quickly." Did you have a joint birthday party for the two little ones with their birthdays being two days apart – Isaac on March 10 and Renee on March 12? "Yes we did! We had a wonderful DJ, Melissa, who teaches them all dancing. She does this thing where they stand in a hoop and she does a big bubble around them, it's amazing. "But this year, everyone went home with a party bag and the norovirus, which I didn't know Renee had. She'd been sick, but I didn't know it was that bad. "So I had a lot of friends and their children and my nieces and nephews who were really ill after they left. It was terrible, but they still love us. We didn't know." Lola's turning eight this year. Is she a good big sister? "She's brilliant with them, because it's not easy. Kids are so possessive. You find yourself as a parent just refereeing the entire time. "If there's a small piece of plastic packaging and one of them believes it theirs it becomes like the most precious jewel and they'll battle over it. It's just exhausting. I should give up and let them get on with it. Let them fight." Are you a morning person? "I am actually. More now than when I was doing breakfast radio. That's a cruel irony, isn't it? "I don't know many people who leap out of bed or wake up looking like a Fifties movie star with their hair fanned out across the pillow. "I sort of drag myself out of bed like everyone else with sideways hair and wait for the creases to drop out of my face. But I'm alright once I'm up. "I'm quite good at getting up now. It's early but once you're awake you've just got these three little cute people. Until it kicks off obviously over a toy snatch incident. "It's a pretty cute way to start the day with everyone cuddled up in bed and three sleepy kids having their milk. I'm very lucky."

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 Do you get much 'you' time these days? "The days of me going out and having late nights and stuff – it does happen, but quite rarely. And they're a bit more well organised. I'm a real homebody. "But I'm convinced there's life after kids. People always struggle when they try and categorise me. They're like OK, so you're not a wild party girl anymore, and you're not really a domestic goddess, what can we describe you as? "Just call me 'life after kids'. It doesn't mean that as soon as you give birth you can whip up a dinner party or never leave your house again and you're really boring. It just means you're a bit calmer. And that you just grow up a bit really." You're 37, and the big 4-0 is approaching. How do you feel about that? "Well it's ages away, so I'm fine! We were laughing the other night, me and the other half, saying 'can we still go to Glastonbury when we're 40, or is just inappropriate?' Will people just stare at us and think what are you doing here? "If I hadn't found my Mr Right, which I have, and if I didn't have three beautiful healthy children and if I didn't have a job that I love then maybe I might have a midlife crisis when I'm turning 40. "But seeing as I'm pretty lucky and obviously I still have the face and the figure of a 20 year old – from a distance if you wear swimming goggles – I'm fine. "You ask me again in a couple of years and I might say 'come with me to Bulgaria I'm getting a cheap face lift!' But at the moment I feel fine." People say your 30s are supposed to be the best decade of your life. would you agree? "They've definitely been the best so far I think. I wouldn't swap my life now to be 19 again. I'd perhaps swap my thighs and stomach for my 19 year old self. But the rest is fine. "Mentally I'm in a much more secure, happy place. Much more confident with my ability. I know what I'm about."Do you find that now you're in your 30s you take more care with exercising and eating healthily? "I think so. I'm quite addicted to the buzz from exercising. So I'll try and be at the gym like three of four times a week. "I've got no self discipline to go and do the machines by myself so I just and throw myself around in classes three or four times a week and I absolutely love it. "But I don't think that's connected to age, I think that's just connected to wanting to feel strong. And it's just what I'm into at the moment. "In the next decade I might be into the circus arts. It's highly unlikely, but you never know." Are doing anything to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee? "I'm actually teaching body con dancing to the Scots Guards on the morning before the Jubilee Parade. They're off to Afghanistan later in the year, so I'm doing that as a bit of a moral booster. "Then in the afternoon it's going to be Lola's birthday party so it's going to be quite a full on day." What do you think of the royal family? You've met Prince William haven't you? 

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"I love William! And I've met Kate as well now, she was very nice. It was just before Christmas, so I told her that I'd already made my gravy for Christmas Day. "The dull things you can talk to the monarchy about – gravy tips! She was very sweet and very natural. "My nana and my mum are both huge royalists and I never really got it. But now, with the new generation of royals led by William and Kate and Harry – I think they're really cool. I'm definitely a supporter. "And I think Zara's got good vibes, I love that she's horsey. "William works an awful lot for Centrepoint, which is my main charity. I met him a couple of times at Centrepoint dos. And he's just brilliant. "He's just a really sorted lovely person, especially with the young homeless people that Centrepoint help out. To see them in action like that – he's pretty cool. "I've tried to persuade him to do a polo match that I can play in. Basically I just want to ride his polo ponies." Have you played polo before? "No I've not. But I have done show jumping and horse racing so now I want to try polo. But William is not having it. He always politely goes, 'Oh yes, very good' then moves on. Maybe I'll persuade him next time. Sara is supporting the Battle of the Breakfast Shows campaign for Nestlé Cereals. See how your breakfast matches up at www.battleofthebreakfasts.co.uk

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