Tamzin Outhwaite credits toyboy for helping raise her two daughters

Tamzin Outhwaite has credited her toyboy Tom Child for helping raise her daughters Florence, 12, and Marnie, eight in a new interview.

The actress, 50, hailed the producer, 29, ‘a really special human’ as she spoke to hosts Jenny Powell and Kelly Pegg about their ‘organised chaos’ for this week’s The Hot Mess Mum Club podcast.

Shedding light on his position as a ‘younger stepdad’, the former EastEnders star insisted that while her children ‘adore’ him, there are times where they also want to ‘absolutely roast him’.

The presenter, who shares her mini-mes with California-based ex-husband Tom Ellis, enthused: ‘It takes a really special human to come in as a younger step dad with two young girls.

‘To be able to sort of politely back me up with them and say stuff like ”you can’t speak to your mum like that” and sometimes he wants to get more involved and sometimes the girls would just want to be with him.

‘They just adore him and sometimes they absolutely roast him. Well, we have a house full of hormones at the moment, with myself and my 12-year-old girl, so the hashtag here is prayfortom. 

‘When we are just as we are, we have a wonderful time, and make each other laugh and sing and laugh together, it’s the closest thing to organised chaos.’

The soap star went on to reflect on their two-year romance, insisting their 21-year age gap isn’t an issue.

Mother-of-two Tamzin explained: ‘We met at a hot yoga studio. I saw him a couple of times in a spin class, and walking up the street. 

‘We were just having a lovely time but neither of us wanted to be in a relationship and we were both single and both happy being single, but then it started to become difficult to be apart. 

‘At some point you just have to get over the hurdle of worrying about age etc, and you know what, age never really comes up unless I’m talking on a podcast or a journalist asks me.’

The Dun Breedin star also touched on being ‘independent’ from her teenage years as she added: ‘I have always been independent from the minute I left home at 16. 

‘I never wanted to borrow money, I never wanted someone to pay for a meal for me, it was almost my disadvantage.  

‘I don’t think I ever met anyone who was very wealthy and very nice in my youth, I always had a thing for the penniless poet. And it often happens that the creative types didn’t have a lot of money. So, I always did stand on my own two feet.

 ‘I feel like we should celebrate our successes, when you are a single mum bringing your kids up that’s a success in itself. 

‘Someone said something really interesting to me the other day, we were chatting away about my eldest daughter, and he said ”as a mother, you are only as happy as your unhappiest child” and I really spend a lot of time trying to keep them happy. 

‘I spend a lot of time in the supermarket like ”oh they have dried mango; she will love that”.’

Despite Tom’s strong relationship with Tamzin’s children, the TV personality previously confessed her kids won’t let her marry him.  

The thespian shared: ‘They always say, ”You two are not getting married”. They don’t like the idea of it, but that’s fine because we’re not desperate to do it. I feel like I’ve done it so I’m not that bothered really. 

‘My daughters were excited by him moving in, but they wouldn’t like us to get married — they’d hate that. It’s a very liberating place to be when you don’t need to get married and you don’t need to have kids.’ 

Tamzin and actor Ellis, 41, tied the knot in 2006 and divorced eight years later after he reportedly cheated on her with Lost’s Emilie de Ravin. 

The Hot Mess Mum Club podcast is hosted by Jenny Powell & Kelly Pegg, who are joined by a different guest every week to talk about the trials and tribulations of being a mum, and to remind all those Hot Mess Mums out there that they are doing a better job than they think.