Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly has been dancing up a storm on Dancing with the Stars.
We’ve loved her weather-themed puns and she absolutely killed it dancing to Mrs Robinson for Movie Week on Sunday.
However, it’s her family who are her biggest supporters.
She admits that her later mother was a massive fan of Dancing with the Stars and one of the main reasons that she is doing the show.
Speaking to VIP Magazine, she admits: “I get choked up talking about her.”
Joanna always wanted to do the show but “it didn’t work out for one reason or another”. However when she was approached for this season, she had to make sure that her children were on board.
The RTÉ meteorologist shares three children, Nicci, Tobias and Casper, with her husband Harm.
She admitted: “My 15-year-old’s initial response on the family WhatsApp was, ‘No way’. Within five minutes he had come back and he said, ‘Nevermind, of course you can do it’.”
She jokingly added: “My mom would’ve come back and haunted him if he had blocked me from doing it.”
She went on to say that she has been trying to find the balance between her work, family life and Dancing with the Stars.
“There’s always balance and there’s always compromise when you commit yourself to something so huge like Dancing With The Stars. You have to be aware that something is going to give, and have back-ups or allowances in place to fill in those gaps for you,” she admits.
“I consulted my family before agreeing to sign up and they have been super at picking up the slack needed. I’ve hired some help to help around the house that I never had before, because you just can’t do everything, and you want to make a good commitment.”
Dancing with the Stars continues on RTÉ One on Sunday, January 26th at 6:30pm.
