Aljaž Škorjanec admits it was non-negotiable giving up ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ to focus wholeheartedly on being a father.
The 35-year-old Slovenian dancer returned to the BBC One Latin and ballroom present in 2024 after 5 years away, to be a “hands-on” father to his and spouse Janette Manrara’s daughter, Lyra, 21 months.
Aljaž and Janette – a former ‘Strictly professional, who hosts sister present ‘Strictly: It Takes Two’ – have simply documented their hectic lives juggling mentioning Lyra whereas touring the nation within the trustworthy and transferring brief movie, ‘Dancing By Change’.
Talking at a non-public screening of the movie – which was sponsored by the mum+meAPP and attended by BANG Showbiz – Aljaž mentioned of leaving ‘Strictly’: “I all the time knew that I’ve love to offer being a dad, however then equally, I knew that if I wish to be a dad, when that occurs, that is all I wish to do.
“And each single individual that I am near was pondering I am loopy for leaving Strictly, however to me, it was irrelevant, as a result of I knew that, , with the schedule that you simply get each summer time, with being on the present, it was unimaginable for me to be hands-on, which is what I wished to do.
“And I utterly put that apart. And little did I do know again then, that saying no, I used to be gonna be the one one which ever will get to return again and have the perfect of each worlds.”
Janette, in the meantime, spoke about being trolled for going again to work when Lyra was a new child and felt compelled to share her story to normalise totally different types of parenting.
She mentioned: “There’s all the time the trolls which have their opinions, and principally, they had been simply saying that it was too quickly.
“I do not appear to be I have to work. I do not appear to be I’ve the life that requires me to work. And I usually do not actually care what trolls say.
“What it made me suppose is how unhappy that in 2023 [at the time], in society, we nonetheless have this mentality that ladies should not return to work, or that, , the girl stays at house, and the daddy is the one which goes to work.
“And that’s so, so not the fact for therefore many mother and father on the market a whole lot of mother and father, the mom has to return to work.
“In my case, I type of it was each slightly bit I wanted to return to work and I wished to return to work as a result of I felt, as a girl, if I did not do me, I used to be by no means going to be comfortable sufficient to be a great mother.”
This acted because the catalyst for the brief movie, which was launched to YouTube on Mom’s Day 2025.
She continued: “In order that type of actually stemmed and pushed this, if I am trustworthy. So I assumed there’s not sufficient tales on the market of girls saying how comfortable they’re to work and supply for his or her kids and be good moms on the identical time.
“So yeah, it bothered me, however greater than something, made me unhappy that, like, that is nonetheless type of a dialog we’re even having.”
Aljaž and Janette imagine you’ll be able to “have all of it” in relation to working and parenting, however not on the identical time.
She continued: “Aljaž and I, after we discovered we had been going to have Lyra, we actually determined we’re gonna go co-parent. We’re gonna do that collectively. So there was no he is gonna go off to work and I am gonna keep and, , vice versa.
“We’re simply gonna do that as a crew. And each household is totally different. For some households, the mom is the one which stays house, for some households it is the daddy, there are same-sex {couples} which have kids.
“You recognize, it simply actually will depend on your private household scenario. And that is why I assumed we can’t sit and decide one another, as a result of each single household and each single scenario is totally different.”
