David Tennant’s wife Georgia Moffett has opened up about family life with their five children, several of whom are neurodivergent.
The Doctor Who star and actress share son Ty, 23 - Georgia's son from a previous relationship, whom David adopted - Olive, 14, Wilfred, 12, Doris, 10, and Birdie, five.
Georgia, who married David in 2011, said they rarely eat together as a family as several of their kids have special requirements and like to eat different meals in separate spaces.
“I don't understand how people sit around and all eat together,” the 40-year-old said on Russell Howard's Five Brilliant Things podcast.
“We've got a lot of neurodiverse kids so a couple of them don't like eating around other people. They go and eat in separate rooms.
“A couple of them won't eat the same food, so we have to cook a different meal for them. Mealtime is like two and a half hours of me wandering around the house serving different people in different rooms.”
Georgia revealed that the family rarely eats together as a result, adding that dining out as a unit is a “nightmare”.
“We never [eat together]. Christmas, I think we do,” she said.
“Every now and again, we'll go to a pub and we'll all sit down and it's just a f***ing nightmare. I just want to go home.
“They're crawling on the table, one's got headphones on. It's just like, no.”
David and Georgia met on Doctor Who in 2008 when she played his genetically engineered daughter, Jenny, in the episode Doctor's Daughter.
In a twist of fate, Georgia is the daughter of Peter Davison, who played the Time Lord between 1982 and 1984.
The couple - who also worked together on the BBC comedy series Staged - married in 2011, after which the Rivals actor legally adopted Georgia’s son Ty.
“I got together with my husband and I was like, well, we want to add another one,” the producer revealed.
“And then they came out and they were already great. And then there was one time where I got a bit drunk and then another one came out - but also great.”
She added that despite the daily challenges of their household, she loves the “different smorgasbord of humans” they have created.
“I like how different they are. It seemed weird that two people can keep creating such a different smorgasbord of humans. And that's really fascinating,” she said.
Georgia added that she has her own neurodivergent tendencies, preferring her food to be kept separate on her plate.
“A very good friend of mine is a potter and she made me a plate for my 40th, which was separated into little areas because she noticed that I didn't like any of my food to touch,” she explained.
“I can have a meal and I can put – like a child – all of the separate things on the plate, and then I'm in control of what I put together.
“I've always been like that, but I've not really come out of myself until like the last five years. I think I was really annoyed and really confused for a long time with why everyone liked living in a sort of chaotic state.
“I just thought, no, this is really unappealing. I just want to know exactly what I like... As long as nothing is touching, I'm completely in control of everything. I'm very happy.”
She also revealed David is completely the opposite and gets “so much joy” from a “big old sandwich”.
Georgia gave birth to Ty when she was 16. He is now an actor and has had roles in series including War of the Worlds and House of the Dragon.
Reflecting on her first child, she said: “That was obviously not planned, but it was actually so much easier when I was 16 because I didn't have any preconceived ideas about how difficult parenting was.
“He was really easy and lovely and great. And I was able to work and so that was a really positive experience. Probably if that hadn't been so positive, I might not have gone on to have four more.”
