Britain’s Got Talent’s Amanda Holden has revealed her two daughters are ‘really proud’ of her debut album success.
The judge, 49, who will star in the show’s first ever Christmas Special on Friday, said she’s thrilled her album has been named the biggest-selling and highest-charting debut by a female artist this year.
Amanda’s co-judge David Walliams, 49, also joked he’s hoping his colleague Simon Cowell ‘puts on weight,’ as the music mogul’s weight loss means he’s starting to look ‘fat next to him.’
EXCLUSIVE: Britain’s Got Talent’s Amanda Holden has revealed her two daughters are ‘really proud’ of her debut album success ahead of the ITV show’s Christmas Special on Friday
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Amanda said her daughters have been hugely proud of her chart success.
She said: ‘They’re really proud of Mummy. I think they were a bit like,”What? I can’t believe it!”, especially when I overtook Dua Lipa in the album charts, they were a bit flabbergasted by that.
‘But they’re my daughters, I’m their Mummy. They’re not really keeping an eye on it until Daddy says something at teatime.
‘Chris is enormously proud. He’s been like a proud parent, if that’s the right thing to say, going around talking about it.
‘It was wonderful to be with him throughout it all. It was our project. So, to have the success together has been the icing on the cake for me.’
Reunited! Meanwhile judge David Walliams admitted he hopes Simon Cowell has ‘piled on weight’ before his return, as he is set to perform with 2009 finalists Stavros Flatley
She also said it’s been a lovely moment for her to show her two daughters what can happen when you achieve your goals.
Yeah, I say to them, ‘You’ve got to believe you can make it happen and work your a**e off against the odds, if you’re determined and you believe in something, you can do it, whatever your job is,”’ she said.
‘That’s something I just want to instil in them going forward as human beings and as girls, because it’s really important that they dare to dream big and have the courage to go for I’ve been approached by a couple of tour promoters to take my album Songs From The Heart on the road next year.’
The star also admitted she’s been stunned that her debut album is one of the biggest selling of the year, adding: ‘Who would have thought that 2020 would be the year that you broke musical records?
‘I know! I mean literally, in March when the lockdown happened, I made a determined effort.
Riding high: Amanda exclusively told MailOnline she’s thrilled her album was the most successful debut by a female artist this year, ahead of her BGT performance with Collabro
Thrilled: She said her daughters Lexi, 14, and Hollie, eight, were ‘flabbergasted’ when her album surpassed Dua Lipa in the charts
‘I thought, ”This year is going to count for me. I’m not wasting this year. I’m not going to let it defeat me”. But I did not expect all that.
‘For me, 2020 has been a really unique year in a very positive way. I’ve enjoyed so many aspects of it through a new lens and appreciate so many different things from it.’
Meanwhile Amanda’s co-judge David said he’s looking forward to Simon’s return to the show next year, as he was forced to take a break from television duties after breaking his back in an electric bike accident.
Asked whether he’s got jokes ready for Simon’s first day back on the panel, David told MailOnline: ‘Well, we’ll see, but I just hope he’s put on some weight because he was looking slim and I just looked fat next to him!
‘I think he only lost all that weight to make me look fatter when I stand next to him. But I’ll always be taller than him!’
Exciting! The BGT festive special will see the judges perform alongside former acts for the first time, in a two-hour Christmas showcase sure to delight viewers
David is set to join Ashley Banjo to perform alongside BGT finalists Stavros Flatley during the Christmas special, which see a slew of former acts take to the stage for an evening of festive wonder.
Alesha Dixon also chatted to MailOnline about her much-anticipated performance with 2017 champion Tokio Myers, adding she’d love to work with the pianist on music in the future.
She said: ‘I’m a huge fan of Tokio. He’s up there in my top three all-time winners of Britain’s Got Talent because he’s just so cool, really edgy.
‘I had great fun working with him and we said to each other it’d be lovely to do something in the future together.
‘We actually sing a ballad on the show, which is very different for Tokio and I because he’s quite edgy and I’m more about the energy. So, it was quite a different way of us performing together.
‘But we were like, “Yeah, we’ll do something in the future where we can edge it up, get some beats”, because obviously he’s all about that vibe, but he’s just such a cool guy and it was an honour to perform with him.’
Britain’s Got Talent: Christmas Spectacular airs on Christmas Day at 8pm on ITV.
Airing soon: Britain’s Got Talent: Christmas Spectacular airs on Christmas Day at 8pm on ITV