Dragons’ Den star worth £280,000,000 addresses backlash after saying she’s a ‘max three-hour mum’

Dragon’s Den star Emma Grede has clarified recent comments she made about being a ‘max-three-hour mum’.

The 43-year-old mum of four, who’s worth an estimated £280,000,000, has faced backlash in recent weeks following an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

During the course of the conversation, Grede explained her parenting style, calling herself a ‘max three-hour mum’ and explaining that after being with her kids from 9 am to noon on weekends, she’s ‘done with these four.’

Instead, Emma said she prefers to build ‘high-impact, core memories’ like taking the family to New York.

Now the tycoon has defended her comments during an appearance on This Morning.

Ben Shephard began by asking Emma if she could explain a little bit of what you mean by being a three-hour mum and if she understood why people were upset with her.

‘Of course, I completely understand,’ she replied. ‘I wrote this book not for people to read, but for people to use.

‘It was purposeful in provoking conversation, and I think that there are such unrealistic expectations out there for women.

‘You look at me, and you go, “Oh, she’s got it all, an excellent mum, she’s running these businesses”.

‘The reality is, my life is a series of trade-offs. When I talk about being a three-hour mum, what I mean is I max get an hour in the morning, a couple of hours at night.’

She finished by explaining that people shouldn’t be made to feel bad about the realities of life.

She continued: “You shouldn’t be made to feel bad about that, as a working person, that is the reality of your life, you can’t spread yourself so thin.

‘What I try to do here is be honest about my reality and the things it’s taken in the hope that people would read that and not feel so burdened by the guilt and burdened by the expectations of parenting, which I think have gone nuts.’

Emma had previously defended herself while on the TV show Today with Jenna and Sheinelle.

During that appearance, she claimed that she wasn’t caught off guard by the backlash because ‘that’s what happens to women’.

‘I just think that headline would never be written about a man,’ she said.

‘[Women] are held to such an impossible standard both as parents and as business women, and what I’m trying to do is be really honest about what it takes and be really honest about the things that I don’t do.

Everybody says, “How do you do it all? How do you wake up at 5am and run the companies?” And, I’m like, let’s give a list of all the things that I don’t do because you know what’s helpful? That’s what’s helpful to women.’

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