Laura Bailey on managing motherhood. And tennis. The model, photographer and writer lives in London with her two children.
GM: We’d love to know what a typical day looks like for you, if indeed there is one!
LB: My creative work and commitments are unpredictable and ever changing, so I have learnt to be both flexible and disciplined and to create a kind of foundation of stability in order to stay on track. On set, it’s all about teamwork – and I relish collaboration and experimentation. As a model, I am way more relaxed than when I was younger. I feel more free – and honest – and strong. Behind the camera, I am learning to trust my instincts and to also connect with the sense of freedom and reportage I have always loved, outside of deadlines and editors and the pressure to please.
For a long time, I felt the need to constantly be working – driven by a kind of panicky survival instinct. Now I am trying to create space, focus on special projects and say ‘no’ more, so that I have the energy to make the ‘yes’ more special.
The foundation of my mental and physical strength has long come from sport. I was always a runner, but now that I’m a serious tennis addict I build much of my routine around my training and matches. And I have a lot of fun, win or lose. My kids are both athletes and even a kick-around in the park or an evening mixed doubles match are an important anchor of our routines.
Because I train hard I also try to balance out the match play with serious stretching. I love my Pilates sessions with Sophie-Rose Harper and also the team at Bodyism – where I can fit in classes – and coffee and cake.
And whatever is happening with work or play, I walk or run with my two beloved lurchers – Bambi and Rainey – as much as I can. They have helped me build so much of my day around nature and movement.
My Portobello neighbourhood in London has brought me such joy – I bike everywhere and not a day goes past when I don’t discover something new and count my blessings. I volunteer once a week at my local community centre and even when I think I have no time, I always find new energy and perspectives amongst the kids there. I was lucky to find strangers who looked out for me when I needed them and it’s so important to me to show up and pass it forward.
GM: As a freelancer with many strings to your bow, how do you manage your time?
LB: I am super organised. But I also don’t over-commit. (I definitely used to). I am lucky to have an extraordinary gang of close friends who allow me to be totally honest and totally myself. These relationships have been the cornerstone of my adult life. Day to day, I plan around the kids first – even now they’re taller than me – and I find that two or three nights out a week is the max for good mood, rest and balance.
Obviously I am not always in control and work sometimes takes me away – days or nights on set can be long. But if I find I set the intention and choose well, my diary is manageable. A girlfriend taught me to draw a line through days off with as much respect as you would a job or a date – or a tennis match!
Also – and I know this is a huge luxury – about five years ago, I started trying to keep Fridays for me. Sometimes I play tennis all day and read in between! Or go vintage shopping, walk miles with my dogs, see an art show or a movie.
GM: Family life is extremely important to you, how did you find the transition to motherhood?
LB: I didn’t grow up in a conventional family and have always been someone who likes to feel free and to whom solitude is important. But my kids changed my life in infinite ways for the better. They have taught me so much and my journey as a mother has rooted and inspired me like nothing else.
I relished being pregnant and was hugely fortunate to have the support I did and the healthy babes, now teens. This is not at all to paint a perfect picture – more to say that even the challenges, in retrospect, made me grow in a different way too. To shift my priorities, to learn patience and play, and to not waste a minute.
GM: The lack of maternity structure for freelancers can be tough. Did you make a decision beforehand on how much time you would take off work?
LB: No, I was terrified and got it wrong with my son – pressurising myself to work too soon. But I was gentler on myself when my daughter was born three years later. I also feel so lucky that some of my most precious and long-term relationships and contracts, especially as a House Ambassador for Chanel, a long time Contributing Editor at Vogue and an ambassador for Save The Children, have evolved with my maverick career path.
GM: It was recently your son’s school graduation. Wow, what a milestone. Has your childrens’ increasing independence changed things for you career-wise?
LB: It still feels totally surreal that Luc won’t go back to school in September and instead will embark on his gap year before university. Tiger at 15 is also extremely headstrong and independent. And yet – if anything – I have wanted to be more present these last few years, relishing the individuals they are becoming, and including them more in plans and work decisions too. I definitely feel a shift – I can go away for a few days’ work without panic and a thousand lists! And I do quite like the spontaneity of no babysitters.
GM: What do your children make of your work?
LB: I hope I get this right. I feel they are proud, mostly. I have tried to share as much as possible, with honesty. They have both helped out on set – and Tiger came with me to a Chanel show in Paris once on her birthday. But it’s definitely not as exciting as the next Chelsea match or what’s for supper. They definitely know that I’m way scruffier and sillier than most of my pictures. And also that I’ve worked hard to be here.
GM: How do you wind down?
LB: Even hard-core tennis is relaxing for me. I exhale as soon as I pick up my racket. Nothing else matters. Occasional massages or physio. Facials with the magical Fatma Shaheen / Skin Design London at 5 Carlos Place. Precious hours at the Josh Wood Atelier – time out of mind and blonde ambition! My girlfriends. Anything, anywhere. Dogs and books and movies and nature.
GM: Has photography always been a big part of your life?
LB: Yes I’ve always taken pictures, and I’ve always been inspired by art and photography. On some recent shoots I’ve written alongside the images – the writing is torture, the shooting sets me free.
GM: What’s getting you excited at the moment, both at work and play?
LB: The chance to direct more moving image. Some special September shoots on both sides of the camera. Paris and Chanel forever. The Chanel exhibition at the V&A which opens in September – Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto. Tangier, Mexico City, Comporta, Copenhangen… (not in that order). Tomorrow’s tennis.
September, 2023
