Claudia Winkleman shocked fans alongside her Strictly Come Dancing co-host, Tess Daly, when they announced their departure from the beloved BBC show on Thursday. As well as currently starring on our screens on the celebrity version of the Traitors, Claudia is a doting mother-of-three to her children Jake, 21, Matilda, 19 and Arthur, 13, whom she shares with her husband of 25 years, Kris Thykier.
Who is Matilda Thykier?
While Claudia keeps her children largely out of the spotlight, back in 2014, then eight years old, Matilda suffered horrific burns when her Halloween costume went up in flames, leaving her mother traumatised. Speaking about the injury for the first time, the presenter, 53, told BBC Watchdog: “I was talking to somebody, and then I just heard her scream. She just screamed ‘Mummy’ and I turned round and that was that, she was just on fire. Everyone was screaming. She was screaming, all the kids there were screaming… It feels like she was on fire for hours but the surgeon said that definitely wasn’t the case and it was probably just seconds. But she went up, is the only way I know how to describe it. It was not like fire I had seen before.”
She continued: “We couldn’t put her out. We couldn’t put her out – like if your shirt caught fire or anything I could put it out. It was the tights that… they came back to life. It was like those horrific birthday candles that you blow out and then they come back.” Speaking about the severity of Matilda’s burns, she added: “It’s life-changing but not life-defining. It was definitely life-changing for me. I can’t remember life before it.”
© GettyClaudia shares her three children with her husband Kris
What does Matilda do?
Now, 11 years on, Matilda – who has been described by her famous mother as a “very clever girl” is a second-year chemistry student at Bath University. “She’s a very clever girl,” she told Grazia: “She sends me some of the work she does. I’m like, ‘What? How? Pardon?'”
An eye-witness who saw Claudia on holiday with her family noted how confident Matilda was. The insider told HELLO!: “Matilda has clearly inherited her parents’ social skills and calm confidence. She easily made friends with other teens at the resort and proved very popular. Claudia seemed to have a very close bond with her kids, spending family dinners together while also allowing them the freedom to go off with their friends every evening.”
Claudia’s bond with her children
Claudia has made it clear that spending time with her children is of top priorit in the past. In March 2024, Claudia stepped down from her BBC Radio 2 show to spend more time with her family. “Time is going too fast, my daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was three about five minutes ago,” She said at the time. “I still have a little one who wants to be with me – I don’t know how long that will last, and I just need to be at home more.”
Talking to HELLO! in an exclusive interview in 2023, Claudia had just dropped her eldest son at university. Talking about the experience of her eldest flying the nest, she simply replied: “[It’s] hideous.” “I have nothing else to say about that because I already talked about him and he was like mum, you are mortifying.” Despite being mortified by his TV star mum, Claudia revealed she was allowed to move her eldest son in when he started his course, adding: “He can’t get rid of me, but he would like to”.
WATCH: Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman leaving Strictly Come Dancing
