Alex Jones reveals her £50,000 pay gap with One Show co-star Matt Baker has been ‘addressed’ and ‘put right’
ALEX Jones has said the huge £50k pay gap between her and The One Show co-host Matt Baker has been 'addressed'.
The TV star opened up in an interview about having been shocked to learn about the differences in their salaries.
Speaking to magazine, Alex said: "We've never discussed our pay because we're quite British like that. Even my mum doesn't know how much I earn.
"But the BBC seem to be doing what they can and I know that with Matt and I our editor put that right; it's been addressed with us."
As well as hosting The One Show, Matt also works on Countryfile and on coverage of the Olympics.
The pay discrepancy was revealed last year when the BBC released its top earners list, which detailed BBC employees who earn over £150,000 for their work at the publicly-funded corporation.
While Alex isn’t exactly struggling to make ends meet – the list revealed she received between £400,000 and £449,000 for her hosting duties – the Welsh star says she was taken by surprise that former Blue Peter star was receiving £450,000 to £499,000.
Alex was 39 when she gave birth to one-year-old son, Teddy, with her insurance broker husband, Charlie Thomson, who she married in December 2015.
She took just three months off work, and also opened up about struggling with maternity leave.
She said: "This is a thing women don't like to admit, but I was nervous about maternity leave. I love and respect my job and with that comes a fear of losing it.
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"I was petrified of someone else being in my seat and doing it better. By your mid 30s, early 40s, you've worked damn hard to get where you are: why should you give that up?
She also admits that she didn't know what she was letting herself in for when she left work to have her baby.
Alex says: "I made unrealistic promises before I went off and didn't know what having a child would involve.
"I wasn't anybody's fault but my own. I put all the pressure on myself and thought I could achieve the impossible, because that's what we're programmed to think. And I wasn't ready; I was still feeding, and trying to juggle that with prime-time telly was tough."
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