Morning:
10°c
Kaplinsky gives up £300,000 in pay for baby
by ELLEN WIDDUP ELLEN WIDDUP24 Jun 2009
NATASHA Kaplinsky is preparing to have her £1 million pay packet slashed by nearly a third to spend more time with her baby.
The 36-year-old newsreader will quit the Five News 7pm bulletin for good, taking a £300,000 pay cut.
Her son Arlo was born eight months ago and she returned to work in February under the agreement that she would do the 5pm news but skip the later slot for a few months.
Now she plans to make the arrangement permanent with Five preparing to revamp its schedule with a new "poppy" early evening show aimed at younger viewers.
Five has launched a hunt for new presenters to join the 7pm team.
A source close to Kaplinsky said: "She knows that she will not keep her big salary and she is not worried about that. It's about getting the right work-life balance."
A Five insider said it was in discussions with the presenter.
"Natasha is one of the big stars of the channel and we love her, so we're very pleased she will continue to read the 5pm news. It is our flagship news bulletin and pulls in more than a million viewers," he added.
A friend of Kaplinsky's confirmed she was in negotiations about her pay deal, saying: "She is so pleased that everyone at Five have been so great."
Kaplinsky, who is married to banker Justin Bower and has been nicknamed "Spangles" for her highgloss, high-glamour image, announced she was pregnant in April last year, six weeks after her debut on Five News.
Last month she spoke out about being a working mother with a baby. She said: "I wish I were one of those people who didn't have to sleep at all, because there's always so much happening. I've always been excited to get up and do all the things I haven't managed the day before.
"But all that's on hold now, as my life has been taken over by a small person who requires a lot of attention and waiting on."
She said her routine with Arlo started when he woke at 5am.
"I thought those three and a half years of early shifts for breakfast TV - waking at 3.20am - would be great training for having a baby," she said.
"Getting up for a bulletin is one thing, but getting up for a baby who gives me constant bulletins is another."
At work from Monday to Thursday, she describes her journey to the studios in Isleworth from her home in Fulham as "really lovely and peaceful after a frenetic morning" and the make-up room as a "magic revolving door".
She said: "I go in as a mum, then someone straightens my hair and does fantastic make-up, enabling me to get my head together over the newspapers and come out all professional."
Reader views (7)
Remind me again what talent has she got that warrents such a wage?
- Ge, Kernow (Nation of), 24/06/2009 18:09
Report abuse
Natasha I love you to bits, but £1,000,000 a year just to read the news. Some people have to work 50 years for that sought of money. What a crazy world that we live in.
- C Cusano, Bedford, 24/06/2009 17:59
Report abuse
10 grand a year is about all this woman is worth.
she just reads an autocue for chrissake!!
Thats an obscene amount of money and what the bloody hell makes her a "star"????????
- Kedge, wilts, england, 24/06/2009 16:22
Report abuse
If she married me, I'd happily keep her... she won't have to work at all... what a babe 
- Sanjay, Hounslow, UK, 24/06/2009 13:36
Report abuse
So she ONLY get £700,000??? Jesus, what ever is she going to live on?
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 24/06/2009 11:50
Report abuse
Why the focus upon working women with children, and, more to the point, why must we endure yet more child-centred bull? (particularly from Euroland people)
This woman is married to a "banker" - good for her, but why must we be told about her financial arrangements at work? I mean, is anyone remotely interested in anything to do with Channel Five and their "star" performers?
- Ted, London, 24/06/2009 11:16
Report abuse
Good for her! I hope the next Government helps other mothers of babies and primary-school age children to do the same, should they so wish. One of the worst things for British Society is the unnatural shove to get mothers and babies seperated ASAP. Some women may want to return to their jobs, but there are millions for whom the 'unpaid' job of being a mother is their natural choice but they are forced to return to work immediately because of high taxes and the ridiculous cost of basic living.
- Roz, France, 24/06/2009 10:13
Report abuse
