I’m a single mum but I’d freeze eggs & have 6 more kids to make my big-family dreams come true, says Jennifer Metcalfe

SHE turns 40 next year but Jennifer Metcalfe has not given up on her dream of having a large family.

The Hollyoaks actress, who has played feisty Mercedes McQueen for the past 17 years, is already mum to five-year-old son Daye, but would like to give him a sibling, or half a dozen.

“I’d absolutely love to have more kids,” she says. “I’d like to have five or six, but the time and person I’m with would have to be right.”

Like an increasing number of women, single Jen says she would not rule out freezing her eggs.

She says: “I know I want to have more children, so I had my eggs tested about three or four years ago.

“I was so young then and I had a lot of eggs, which was great. But apparently the number can drop at any point — and quite dramatically.”

During the pandemic, fertility clinics saw egg-freezing enquiries rise by 50 per cent compared to the year before.

Jen says: “I’m reaching 40 next year so maybe I will have them frozen.

“Judging by the logistics I really should, because I’d love a massive family.

“Daye always asks me, ‘Mummy, can you have a baby boy or a baby girl?’, and I reply, ‘I don’t know darling, hopefully I can’.

“I’m in no rush to meet a partner to have kids with, so I would consider adoption, or any other ways of having a child.”

The Bradford-born actress has not had a serious relationship since splitting from Daye’s dad, Geordie Shore star Greg Lake, 37, in 2020 after eight years.

About co-parenting, Jen says: “It’s as perfect as it can be. Greg lives in Newcastle, so Daye visits him every other weekend. We both have our child’s best interests at heart ultimately, so whatever that brings, it brings.

Instant pin-up

“My boy and I have such a lovely life together in Manchester.”

Despite multiple nominations for Sexiest Female at soap awards, Jen says there is not a stream of eligible hunks sliding into her DMs.

“I never get any private messages from men on Instagram,” she says.

“My friends always ask me this, and I say to myself, ‘Am I missing something?’. There’s nothing going on, I’m so dry.

“I’m not dating. There’s no one at all, I promise. It’s actually zilch. I have my little boy a lot of the time, so our life is very full-on.”

With her busy filming schedule and life as a single mum, it is no surprise that when she does get some time to herself, Jen savours every minute of it.

“I went to Selfridges earlier today for a drink by myself,” she says. “As much as I love company, I also love just being sat on my own.

“I was in London for a work event recently and once I checked into the hotel, I fancied a nice glass of red wine.

“I know Nobu do an excellent Bordeaux, so off I went at 10pm — and I stayed there until midnight on my own. I love it.”

After landing the role of man-eating Mercedes in 2006, Jen became an instant pin-up and lads’ mag regular.

And she has nothing but fond memories of posing in her underwear.
“Oh my God, the lads’ mags were the best times of our lives,” she says.

“Jorgie Porter (who plays Theresa McQueen in Hollyoaks) and I were saying the other day how much fun we had during that period.

“I feel like they were the early days and early memories of Hollyoaks.

We went to work, and then we came down to London from Liverpool for photo shoots on Saturdays. We loved it.

“I’m not sure I’d want to get my boobs out now. I don’t think it’s wrong or it’s right, but I feel it served its purpose for the time.

I found it so much fun, and I never had any bad experiences on the shoots.”

Despite her size-6 figure, the fitness fan says she has let her exercise regime slide over the past year and has only just started working out again.

“I’ve neglected myself for the past 12 months,” she says. “But I started working out again last month and now I’m back on it.

“I think, ‘Why the hell didn’t I do this sooner?’. I’m doing weights and trying to keep it all tight.”

‘Never say never’

Not that she piles as much pressure on herself nowadays to look perfect.

She says: “When I used to exercise in my twenties, it was all about trying to look good and keep slim.

“Whereas now I do it for my own headspace and to give that hour to my body.”

Her only other form of maintenance, she says, is a “little bit of Botox”.
And for her mental health, it is all about friends.

She says: “I have friends who are 15 and friends who are 70, so I think it’s important to keep it lively and do what you love, whatever that is.

“I drink lots of wine and I have lots of fun when I don’t have my boy.”

After seeing her former Hollyoaks co-stars Nathalie Emmanuel, who landed a lead role in Game of Thrones, and Ricky Whittle, who went on to star in Amazon Prime’s American Gods, make it big in Hollywood, is Jen keen to follow in their footsteps?

“I’ve played Mercedes for almost 17 years, and I’m happy,” she says.

“I am signed at Hollyoaks for the next year, so I’ll see where things go.

“I don’t have any big ambitions, but I never say never to anything.”

• Fab Daily spoke to Jennifer Metcalfe at the Inside Soap Awards.