Jennifer Zamparelli on 10 years of marriage to husband Lau and making more time for her family

The Dancing With The Stars presenter reveals why she wasn't worried about not returning to the show when she left 2FM and how she's seeing the benefits of being around more for her two kids

After leaving 2FM in May, Jennifer Zamparelli has returned for her sixth season as a Dancing With The Stars presenter. Here, she chats about life on and off screen.

Read more: Jennifer Zamparelli has zero regrets over leaving 2FM and confirms her shock exit was amicable

Read more: Jennifer Zamparelli shares real reason for 2FM exit and speaks out for first time: 'I didn't want to go'

Jen, this is your sixth season on Dancing With The Stars.

My sixth? I should be out of there, I usually only tend to stick to things for five years and then I feck off [jokes]. That’s wild! It’s always really exciting to be back and that feeling never wavers or diminishes. You never know if you’re coming back, so there’s a little bit of relief when you get the call.

You left 2FM back in May. Was there a worry that you wouldn’t be asked back to Dancing With The Stars or did you think about leaving this show as well?

I was always going to come back and there are other things I hope to do in telly land. Dancing With The Stars is very different from radio. There aren’t many places you can walk back in to and still be friendly with people and shake their hands. I left 2FM on positive terms and I left in a really good place. The fact they invited me back to do my ‘exit chat’ on my former show with Laura Fox was great. Not many people get to do that. They tend to argue over money and then they’re gone. I still see all of the 2FM gang and I’ve a lot of respect for Dan Healy [head of 2FM]. Did I worry about not coming back? No. I worried about the show not coming back, the whole thing. It’s an expensive show to run and there are a lot of moving pieces and hundreds of people working on it. To make it look the way it looks on a fourth of the budget Strictly Come Dancing has is incredible. It’s always great to have another go at it.

Have you been enjoying your time off since leaving radio?

I’ve been having a blast. I was on this kind of treadmill for a long time. It got to the 10-year mark and I said I could easily do another 10 years, but that wasn’t going to leave space for any other opportunities, family time and my marriage. I also want my husband Lau to spread his wings with work. It was a choice and it was actually a very easy decision to make in the end. I have zero regrets and I’m in a really good place. Having time and space creatively is a great thing. If I didn’t do it then, when was I going to do it? I’m not one of those people who does the same thing over and over because it’s comfortable. I like to be a bit uncomfortable and wonder what’s going to happen next. I’m very fortunate that I can do that. It’s been brilliant, really.

Was there any catalyst or final moment that led to you hanging up the microphone?

My dad wasn’t very well and that slowed everything down. I was like, ‘Hang on a second’ because I needed to spend time with him going in and out of the hospital. That had to be priority. It was exhausting. There was no catalyst. Then there was the timeframe, it was coming up to 10 years on 2FM and I was questioning what I wanted to do. I tend to do everything in cycles. I was on Breakfast Republic for five years, I did my own show for five years, I did Republic Of Telly for five years and I lived in the UK for five years. I tend to reassess my life every five years. There was nothing in particular that made me leave, it was more of a timeframe thing.

You must be seeing the benefits of spending more time with your kids and Lau?

It’s been amazing. I know what’s going on all the time and what’s going on in school. We’ve had great times making memories and having a blast together. This is an important time for them and they need me. Florence is going to be 10 this year and Enzo is six. It’s nice to be around in the mornings, getting them up and out. Lau is really busy with work and he’s getting busier and busier. It’s great that he can take jobs in London or America. We’re a team and that’s what marriage is all about. It’s his time to really go for it. I’ve had to slow a tad, but I’m still MC’ing and running my salon.

You and Lau celebrated 10 years of marriage during the summer, how did you mark it?

We went to Amsterdam because he’d never been before. It’s a gorgeous city if you do it right. It’s funny, we don’t really think of us being married for 10 years because we’ve been together for 18 years in total. I think that’s more impressive. Doireann Garrihy was talking about her wedding when we did our promo shoot together and it brought up all the memories of my own wedding.

As a couple, is it important to make time for ‘Jen and Lau’ and not ‘Mammy and Daddy’?

We go away just by ourselves quite a bit and that’s really important. It’s all about the kids when we’re at home. We like date nights out and going away alone. We’re also that annoying couple in the gym that train together. That’s us.

Is that what makes your relationship work so well?

I think so. We’re very good at spending time apart, but very good at spending time together as well. He still makes me laugh and that’s key in a marriage.

You’re gushing about him a lot, what annoys you about him?

He can’t make a bed properly, he treats me like his PA sometimes because he can’t remember anything and he stands over me when I’m cooking and gives me judgy looks. I don’t like that. He scratched the wheels on my car, that really annoyed me because he gives out about my driving.

How has your relationship evolved over the years?

We’re always evolving, there’s always change and there always has to be compromise. It’s very much teamwork between us. We were in a long-distance relationship for about four years when we first met. He was in the UK and I came home here. We’re used to being apart. Sacrifices hurt and they can sting a little bit more when you have kids, like when he has to go on a job for eight months at a time. That takes a bit of manoeuvring to get the family together. He has been working on shows like Wednesday and Stranger Things and it takes a lot of graft to get to that point. I’m very proud of him. In his line of work as a stunt man, you have to roll with it and take the jobs when they come or else the phone stops ringing.

What about you, are you ever afraid that the phone will stop ringing work wise?

Oh Jesus, I take the phone off the hook! [laughs] I’m self-employed, so I’m one for creating my own opportunities. I never worry about that. Bernard O’Shea and I created Bridget And Eamon ourselves, we made it happen. With all of my experience in TV and radio, if you want an opportunity, you can make it happen yourself.

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What do you make of the Dancing With The Stars line-up this year?

There’s a mixed line-up this year and it’s very different. I never thought I’d see Elaine Crowley on the dancefloor. She’s going to be amazing and a lot of fun. I went to Disneyland before Christmas and Lau made a very good point. He said that Irish people have ruined the word ‘Mickey’, and now we’ve a Mickey on the show with Mickey Joe Harte. He will be very entertaining and great craic. The cast is having great fun this year.

You and Doireann teased the line-up on social media before it was revealed. You said you had a falling out with one of the stars, who was it?

I’m not telling you that, not a bleeding chance! We gave our honest reactions. I can’t be giving that away, but I will say that things have been amended and that’s all good. I’ve reached out to them to make sure we’re all good. You can’t have stuff like that going on on a show like Dancing With The Stars. It would be too stressful.

There has been a big change following the addition of Karen Byrne to the judging panel. What do you make of that?

There are always tweaks being made to keep it fresh. We had Doireann join the show two years ago and now we have Karen Byrne as a judge. I’ve been waiting for that to happen for years. It’s her time. She’s one of the originals from season one and she’s won it twice. She also has a lot to say.

Who do you think will win and who will be the dark horse?

I think Elaine will be the dark horse. It would be nice to see one of the Olympians winning because they can do phenomenal things with their bodies. I’m very excited for Gearóid Farrelly because I think we’ll get to see a different side to him. I can never call who wins.

Will the show be different now that you won’t have to balance your radio work as well?

Doireann and I won’t have to run off to do early radio shows the next day, so that’s going to be a big change for us. We won’t have this mad dash home to get into bed and be ready for radio. I’ll be able to go out and enjoy the madness some of the Sunday nights.

This interview with Jennifer Zamparelli appeared in the January issue of RSVP Magazine

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