Katherine Jenkins: ‘It’s nice to see my musical passion coming full circle with my children’
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How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Katherine Jenkins
6am
I don’t need an alarm clock; I’m the mum of an eight-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy, who are up at the crack of dawn. I’m often travelling to or from a performance on a Saturday, so when I’m not, waking up in my own bed is a treat.
We ease into the day with cuddles in bed, perhaps with nature programmes on in the background – the kids are animal-mad.
8am
I start the day with hot water and lemon, which is good for my throat, followed by matcha tea. We’ll make some pancakes, then it’s feeding the rabbits.
My husband [artist Andrew Levitas] and I both support conservation initiatives, and we recently took the children to Africa to work with vets on safari, which was incredible. It’s not quite the same with a rabbit, but it keeps us busy.
10am
Like most parents of young kids, my Saturday mornings involve a pretty packed schedule: karate lessons, horse riding in the local park, swimming… We live in south-west London so there’s a lot of green space on our doorstep.
1pm
We try to expose the kids to as much culture as we can on weekends. We head into central London and grab some lunch – we’re really into Middle Eastern food at the moment, and the kids also love sushi – before seeing a matinee performance of a musical or ballet, or going to an exhibition.
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen The Lion King – the kids know it off by heart – and they’re also listening to the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack on repeat at the moment.
I remember seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat growing up in Wales in the 1980s and becoming absolutely besotted with that world, so it’s nice to see that passion coming full circle with my children.
7pm
Once the kids are down, Andrew and I will pour a drink. I started Cygnet gin in 2022, and I’m proud that it’s a homegrown Welsh product; it’s distilled in Swansea
I’m fascinated by botanicals and worked with mixologists to get the blend right. Right now, I’m into a Cygnet bramble – it uses crème de mure, which makes it look rather festive – and I also like a G&T with a slice of dehydrated orange.
7.30pm
As much as it pains me to say it, Andrew is the better cook. I can do the more straightforward stuff during the week, but he has more flair.
So I’ll drink my cocktail while he gets on with dinner; he does a really fragrant bouillabaisse and a fantastic spicy lobster pasta. Saturday nights at home are a real luxury, because I’m often performing, so I’d rather stay in than go out.
9pm
My husband also works as a filmmaker, so he loves films, but to switch off we’ll generally settle into a box set. I’m devouring 1883, a prequel to the brilliant Yellowstone drama.
It’s really beautifully shot, lots of poetic expanses of wilderness and open prairie fields, so we’ve decided to put that part of the world [in the US] on our travel ‘to do’ list for 2024.
