Mother of invention – the many faces of Myleene

When she announced the news of her new pregnancy almost two weeks ago, it was via Twitter.

Myleene is a regular Tweeter, and her posts are eagerly followed by thousands, not least those who work for gossip magazines and tabloid newspapers, whose pages she regularly fills with the fascinating little nuggets when she tweets about what she has been up to. Only last week, the tweeted image of herself and Carol Vorderman – which she had captioned "Girly Geeks" in reference to the huge round specs she was wearing – made its way onto the tabloid celebrity pages.

Myleene Klass knows how to play the fame game. She understands how to take the public and media interest in her life and make it work to her advantage because, aside from all her other talents (and more of these later), Myleene is first and foremost a communicator. And she has been bursting to tell her pregnancy news.

"It's a huge relief, as I have had really the worst morning sickness," she says. "I've been trying to hide it, but it's really hard if you're on a shoot, being sick, and you have to compose yourself."

Myleene has just finished making the now legendary Christmas Marks and Spencer TV advert, and it seems that film and photo shoots are not the only jobs she has found tough recently.

"I've been working in a neonatal ward for a strand I'm doing for This Morning called Baby Club," she says (she's a regular presenter on the ITV programme). "I absolutely love it. It was extremely difficult. Even the nurses said, 'I don't know how you're going to get through it'. You have to be strong, because the parents are strong. One parent said: 'All I want to do is hold my baby', and I cried then.

"I don't take cuddles for granted, but there are times you take things for granted. My brother was two-and-a-half months premature – we have a history of prematurity in my family – Ava was nearly four weeks early. My brother weighed a pound when he was born and I saw babies that had just made a pound, and they were like dolls. My brother is 27 now and fighting fit. The nurses say they hear many stories like that."

Had she not pursued a career in music and entertainment, she might well have followed in the footsteps of her mother, Magdalena, who worked as a nurse in geriatrics before moving to neonatal.

Now 32, Myleene grew up in Norfolk, the eldest of three daughters to Magdalena, who is Filipina, and Oscar, an Austrian naval diver. Something of a geek at school – she first met Carole Vorderman at 12, when the former Countdown presenter gave her a prize for winning a science project – Myleene could have taken many different career paths, but chose music, studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

After graduating, she joined the cast of the musical Miss Saigon, but then entered ITV's Pop Stars talent competition, and found fame as a member of the resulting group, Hear'Say, alongside Coronation Street's Kym Marsh, going on to have a string of hits. The group split in 2002 and Myleene launched her solo career with a classical music album.

It was while she was with Hear'Say that she met Graham Quinn, her long-term partner and fiance, and the father of her daughter, Ava, who is now three. Gray, as she affectionately calls him, was Hear'Say's security guard, so they have been together quite a while, although they have yet to tie the knot.

"It's definitely going to happen, but a lot of married couples you see in the public eye don't make it," she says. "Maybe they care more about the dress and the cake than their vows? I care about the man. He's faithful to me. When we get married, I hope we've got our priorities right.

"We've had 10 years together, so we must be doing something right. I've heard whispers saying: 'She should be married and set an example', but the example I set is having a faithful partner who is a good parent, and I respect the man that he is. Would marriage change all that?"

Like the modern working mother that she is, Myleene takes pride in having a partner who does his share of the parenting.

"Yes, it's an equal partnership," she says. "That's what partnership means. He definitely pulls his weight and makes it work. He works hard, too. We work hard and we play hard. We get lots of time off and holidays. I'm taking most of next week off."

Later this month Myleene, who now lives in Herefordshire with Gray and Ava, will be presenting at the Baby Show in London where she will show off her latest commercial "baby", the orchestra mat toy she has created for Mothercare.

"From a musician's point of view, I wondered why, for babies, there is such bad access to classical music?" she says. "It develops their alertness, their motor skills and just about everything. The play mat is like an orchestra and the baby is

the DJ.

"When I speak to Ava, she knows the difference between classical and pop. If she's doing ballet, she likes classical, but she also likes some pop. She loves Disney pieces and a bit of Abba.

"It's my little baby. I chose the pieces and we've got the newest microchip from Hong Kong. I'm so proud of it. If you can think it, you can make it."

Can do – that's what Myleene is all about. Her enthusiasm is infectious and she's constantly pushing herself to do better, extending elegant fingers into so many different pies. As a presenter, for example, she's appeared on Pop Star to Opera Star, The One Show and Classic FM, then Last Choir Standing and Ten Years Younger. There's an upcoming programme for Sky too, in which she meets dare-devil children from around the world.

And she's a clothes designer, with her Baby K range for Mothercare now catering for 0-5 years. "We started with babygros and we've grown the range to now include travel cots and bedding, and now it's in 13 countries, and that's all happened in three years."

Then there's the modelling, in particular of bikinis, starting with the white one she wore in 2006 for I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. She came second to Matt Willis, but was soon asked to model for Marks & Spencer. She didn't let a little thing like pregnancy stall her career, but embraced her blooming figure and became a maternity icon, proudly showing off her baby bump in another sensational white bikini, which became an instant best-seller.

She now is the face of M&S TV, and of the company's financial offerings. "I really love that they try me for their ground-breaking ideas," she says, adding that she still enjoys the fashion side, "But it's like any job – you can't just stay in one position. I love a challenge. I'm constantly creating opportunities, thinking what can I learn today? I like to learn."

Indefatigable, even with another baby on the way. You can't help but wonder what on earth Myleene will get up to next.

n The Baby Show is at Earl's Court in London, October 22-24.