Rachel Riley ‘feels guilty’ enjoying family help with baby daughter during lockdown

Rachel Riley has divulged she feels guilty for having help with looking after her baby daughter Maven during lockdown while friends of hers are parenting alone.

The Countdown star is living with her husband Pasha Kovalev and his mother, so there are plenty of hands to help out.

Riley, 34, told The Sun: “It’s one of those things where you feel slightly guilty for enjoying aspects of lockdown. We’re in a really fortunate position.

“All of our work’s gone but we’re not having to struggle in that sense. Pasha would have been away with tours and cruises dancing had it not been for lockdown so he’s enjoying time with us.”

“I feel guilty all my friends, or most of them, had a period where they were left alone with the baby,” she added.

Riley went on to say Kovalev and his mother were home “all the time” which had benefited Maven in “a lot of ways”.

The publication reports Kovalev’s mother was in the UK on a visit but was left unable to return to Russia when the country closed its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She was visiting her granddaughter, five-month-old Maven Aria Riley Kovaleva, who was born in December 2019.

Meanwhile, Countdown is currently not able to film new episodes although Riley has teased July as a provisional date for production to be able to get back up and running without a studio audience and with social distancing in place.

The maths whizz also shared that her colleague Nick Hewer would have to be cautious due to his age and the associated health concerns that come with being older, telling The Mirror: “Nick is 76 so he has got to be a little bit careful.”