Ayda Williams says she and husband Robbie have vowed not to eat cake until their anniversary in August – after indulging their sweet tooth too much during lockdown.
The American actress, who lives in Los Angeles with the former Take That star and their four children, said it had been easy to slip in to bad eating habits as they “weren’t seeing anyone” and “only wearing sweatpants.”
The Days of Our Lives star, who married the former Take That singer, in 2010 said: “We usually do a formal Friday where we get dressed up, but over the course of lockdown that has become lets just eat crap for three days straight. Formal Friday has turned in to f*** it Friday.
“I really did try at the start of quarantine to eat healthy – but I dunno what’s happened. I turned to Rob in bed last night, with banana cake and pudding and I said: ‘You know what I have hit rock bottom.’”
The actor, who was a judge on X Factor with Williams, 46, in 2018, added: “Rob, who has had his addictions, was like: ‘Babe, rock bottom is great. It is good to acknowledge it.’
“We have made a pact to not have any cake until our anniversary which is August. It is so hard to get in to shape and eat right. But it is so easy to get out of shape and eat badly.”
Ayda, 41, who has also starred in British series Fresh Meat, added: “It has been like it is in college – where you have pizza and beer at 3am. We are only seeing each other and only wearing sweatpants.
“And no one is seeing us, so there is no one to be accountable to. When you can’t reach out and touch your friends or family, the next best thing is pudding or cake.”
The couple have filled much of their time watching classic TV shows and movies. “I wanted to, in quarantine, expose the kids to classic films and TV shows that inspired me to do what I do. Like the Brady Bunch. “Rob had never seen it – it wasn’t a big thing for him in the UK. So now we all love the Brady Bunch. But it works both ways, I didn’t know what Blue Peter was. It is a cultural exchange.”
Ayda is the host of two podcasts – (Staying) at Home with the Williamses’ with Robbie, and her own project Postcards from the Edge.
Ayda’s mother, movie producer Gwen Field, 70, was recently diagnosed with cervical cancer.
She stars in an upcoming episode of the actor’s joint podcast to discuss battling her illness in the time of a pandemic. Williams spoke about the impact her mother’s disease had had on her.
“Every day there is a new wobble,” she said. “I worried [about her] like a worried parent now. I have to look out for her, and that is hard in Covid. I feel so helpless with it. I think it is easy to think of Rob and I living on a castle on the hill not impacted by this at all, but I want people to know I am hurting here too. I am scared too. No one is alone.”
