'Nothing prepares you for how tough being a mum can be' Kimberly Walsh opens up

"In my experience being a mum is definitely the hardest job I've ever done. Nothing prepares you for how tough it can be," she says.

Kimberley shot to fame in 2002 after appearing on ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals.

The winning band Girls Aloud went on to be one of the most successful UK groups of all time, racking up 21 top 10 hits, including four No 1 singles, before they split in 2013.

A year after the band went their separate ways, Kimberley, who is married to musician Justin Scott, 35, gave birth to son Bobby, now three. Her second son Cole, now one, followed in 2016.

"Like most parents I struggle with the right ways to discipline them," says Kimberley, who lives with her family in north London.

"All the other things that are tricky, such as lack of sleep, work themselves out. It's making children into good human beings and nice, polite little characters that is the most important thing and also the hardest."

Becoming a mum has made Kimberley appreciate the sacrifices her own mother Diane made when she was growing up.

"It must have been really tough.

She was a single parent and there were four of us and we were all close in age," says Kimberley, who grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Her parents separated when she was six and her schoolteacher mum earned extra money as a piano tutor.

"I say to her often that I don't understand how she did it with four when I can barely manage with two. But I guess you just get on with it, don't you? My mum is a real-life superwoman."

When Kimberley needs advice, it is Diane she turns to first. "She has quite a relaxed way of parenting and I try to take that on as much as I can," says Kimberley, who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, finishing as runner-up.

"She taught me that you don't have to scream and shout to get your kids to respect you."

And she has passed on all she has learnt from her mum to her friends, including bandmate Cheryl, 34, who has an 11-month-old son Bear with One Direction star Liam Payne, 24.

"I talk to all my friends about motherhood, it's just a natural thing. Cheryl and I talk all things mum-related," says Kimberley, who has remained close to the singer and former X Factor judge since their Girls Aloud days.

"Our sons play together. We have playdates all the time."

Kimberley, who has 600,000 followers on Instagram and 700,000 on Twitter, says having friends to share experiences with is all the more important in the age of social media.

"When our mums were bringing us up, they just got on with it but now people follow other mothers on social media and look at what they do.

"It's amazing in some ways as you have a whole community out there that you can consult but it is also easy to end up comparing yourself to other people.

"We put so much pressure on ourselves to do everything perfectly when the truth is life isn't perfect."

However, Kimberley says her experience of life in the public eye has made her more determined than ever not to worry what people think.

"I've never really bowed to any kind of pressure. Even when I was in the band, people would ask if I felt a pressure to be a certain way," she says. "I'm just comfortable in my own skin."

Kimberley says having children has given her a new appreciation of her body. "My body has changed but I look at it differently because it has made human beings, which is amazing. I accept the changes because I have my two boys. That's much more important than what my body looks like."

As she gets back to work this year, Kimberley is busier than ever, with some live shows in the pipeline as well as a stint judging Good Morning Britain's new singing competition Sing It To Win It.

"Being a working mum is hard. It's always a juggling act. And the work I do doesn't have set hours. Some weeks I might not work at all, others are busier.

"But ultimately I do still spend a lot of time with the boys. They're so young and I don't want to miss them growing up."

Kimberley hopes to give her boys the same work ethic she inherited from her own mum.

"It's good for them to see that working is part of life. A lot of what you see growing up shapes what you're like as an adult. My mum was such a grafter and I've taken on that mentality because it's all I've really seen," she says.

Although when performing she is never without a glossy blow dry and immaculate make-up, when at home with her boys, Kimberley says her look is somewhat more low key. "If I'm not working, I'm in mum mode which is very different," she laughs.