BBC RADIO 2 icon Jo Whiley has explained why her kids will “never be nepo babies,” despite her huge career success.
The highly successful 59-year-old radio star has been a host since 1993 and presented her own show on BBC Radio 1 from 2001-2009.
In addition to her radio work, Jo is also an accomplished TV presenter and has covered many major music festivals.
And over the course of her booming career, Jo has met and interviewed some huge names, even introducing her kids to some “very, very cool people” – from the actors playing Doctor Who to Liam Gallagher, and more.
The star married music executive Steve Morton in July 1991, and together they share their four kids – their eldest daughter India was born the year they were married before an eight-year gap for the birth of son Jude.
The couple also share son Cassius and daughter Coco Lux.
But despite their musical connections and fame, Jo insists her four children will “never be nepo babies.”
Speaking alongside a new campaign with The Rail Industry, Jo told The Sun: “My kids will never be nepo babies. They are very determined never ever to make it because I’m their mum.
“It really horrifies them – the thought that anybody would ever employ them because of what I do. So they’re so determined to get jobs and do work on their own merits, and they will never take advantage of me at all.”
Jo added: “They’ll never ever use my name to get somewhere.”
Jo says it’s actually her who ends up introducing her children to popular artists and modern music, as opposed to the other way around.
“It works both ways for us, it really does,” she said, adding: “Coco really loves Lorde, and I’ve interviewed her in the past.
“But also I’ve introduced them all to the likes of The Killers, Lorde, Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish and beabadoobee. Just some amazing women, sensational females at the moment who are just slaying, and my 16 year old absolutely adores them all and I’ve loved being on the journey with her.
“The people I’ve interviewed over the years are now part of my kids’ lives, but they’ve introduced me to other artists who’ve come through as well.”
And Jo’s passion for music isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
The DJ, who is often found in the booth at her 90s anthem gigs, turns 60 next month on 4th July, but she has no plans to slow down her career.
“I’ve done so much over my career but I want to keep on keeping on, and playing music to people. I’m doing so much of what I enjoy at the moment, and I want to keep going with it.”
But Jo hasn’t always been her confident self, able to interview huge music legends at the drop of a hat.
In fact, the DJ admits she often feels out of her comfort zone, and will have to channel other famous faces to gain confidence at her gigs.
Jo said she still gets starstruck if big Hollywood actors are next up for an interview with her – and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo in particular left her
She shared: “Whenever I have to learn lines to walk out on stage and say something, that’s my least confident moment because I just have a terrible memory.
“I watch people on TV and I just think, ‘how do they know what to say?’ I always get really, really scared before I have to go out and deliver lines in front of an audience.
“When I was doing my nineties anthem shows or walking out onto a stage, it’s just not naturally me, you know.
“I’m much happier just talking to people on a 1 to 1 basis, so I kind of had to learn to act, and that’s what I did.”
She continued: “Now I think who am I going to channel and become a different person when I’m having to be confident. I think, what would Beyonce do? Or Michelle Obama for some reason. I think she’s invincible, and I, I think, right, how would Michelle deal with this?
“I think a lot of performers are the same – you just become another person. I go out there and I have some swagger, but I didn’t have that for a long time. I think seeing people’s faces and seeing how happy they were made me think, right, just get your act together and go out there and give these people a good time.”
Now, as well as juggling her bustling career, Jo, who says she’d love to own a flower shop in her part time, is hot on her fitness and recently took part in a triathlon, with another coming up in September.
She’s also very content in her 34 year marriage to music executive Steve Morton, and says the key to their happy marriage is “still having fun together.”
And away from her work duties, Jo has been on another musical journey recently, after teaming up with the rail industry to help promote a new study that has analysed the lyrics of every UK hit song since 1960 (songs that made the top 100 in any given year), finding that Camden is featured more times than anywhere else.
Jo has been to various locations on her musical tour, from the likes of Taylor Swift’s ‘Black Dog’ pub in Vauxhall to The Smiths’ ‘Cemetery Gates’ in Manchester.
Talking about getting involved in the campaign, Jo said: “Because I’ve travelled around so much throughout my career, going to different music venues all around the country, I know the places where people live and grow up and where you experience music is really, really important. So joining this campaign was a natural fit.
“It makes sense to shout about various locations that inspired different songs, whether it’s the Black Dog Pub in Vauxhall where Taylor Swift sang about, or Elton John’s song written on the roof on Denmark Street in Soho, because there’s that infamous line, ‘I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss’ and it’s like, ‘oh I can actually go.’
Jo Whiley has worked with National Rail to release a new series of audio guides exploring the connections between artists and the towns and cities that inspired them. You can find the guides on nationalrail.co.uk or Spotify.
