When A Place in The Sun presenter Laura Hamilton’s 10-year marriage ended in divorce, she made a vow that her happy ever after wouldn’t stop there – it was the start of a new chapter.

And that didn’t just mean moving on with a new relationship – it meant re-evaluating her old one to fit into the new reality of co-parenting their two young children Rocco and Tahlia.

While Laura and her ex have met new partners, she says that their children are the centre of their worlds, so focusing on them helps leave any bitterness at the door. By building on their relationship with their children, they have formed a new version of their family.

“Without their father in my life, I wouldn’t have had one of my greatest achievements, which is Rocco and Tahlia and I’m exceptionally proud of that,’ she tells Ateh Jewel on this week’s Second Act Podcast. “I definitely don’t feel like that’s the end of that chapter, it’s a continual thing. We’re part of each other’s lives forever – for as long as we’ve got children. We’re together from their point of view. So moving on it’s like, How does this next chapter look? How do I evolve?”

For Laura, she tells Ateh that means being in a new relationship and navigating blended family life. And unlike her previous relationship, the lesson she learned this time round was to keep it out of the spotlight.

“One of the most important things for me with the kids and me moving forward into my next chapter is they can see what relationships look like. They have more of a realisation now of what they want a relationship to be.

“That they see both my ex-husband and my (new) relationship going forward, how healthy that is and how positive that is and the way it should be. Because otherwise how are they going to have those positive, happy relationships going forward? For me that’s pretty key.”

Exciting new chapter

“I love the fact that our life is a story and we’re constantly writing it, and we don’t know what that next chapter’s sometimes going to be,” the 44-year-old adds.

The first chapters of her life, she says, were ‘brilliant’ as she built a dream career of combining her passions of travel and property, getting married and having two children. 

“I definitely don’t think that a sort of crossroads in my life came where I got divorced and that chapter is closed. 

“I just say, that’s that chapter, and we’re moving forward to the next part of my story. We continually move forward, and you’re always growing. It feels like it’s constantly evolving and that chapter just blends into the next.”

One of the big joyful lessons she has learnt in her second act is not to be a people pleaser – and it’s something she is keen to pass on to her children.

“Even when I look back at the very, very beginning, I never had this plan to get married, have two kids… I’m just winging it. 

“At the root of it all comes happiness. The older I’ve got, I’ve become more comfortable in not being so much of a people pleaser and thinking, oh, well, I’ve got to compromise how I feel, because that’s making someone else happy.

“But that comes with age. Not worrying so much about what people think when you read online negativity about yourself and let it get you down.

“Sometimes I think, oh, does that sound quite selfish? But actually, you need your children to see that you’re happy.”

Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.