This Morning star Sian Welby left the ITV daytime show to give birth to a daughter with her fiancé Jake Beckett – but worried about her job.

This Morning presenter Sian Welby has confessed she suffered “dark thoughts” about her job security after taking maternity leave from ITV.

Sian gave birth to a daughter, Ruby, with her fiancé Jake Beckett, last summer. Two months later, she was back at work and presenting the programme alongside Craig Doyle.

Sian, 38, confessed she only had three months maternity leave from both her TV work and her hosting job at Capital FM because she was frightened about being replaced.

She told The Sun: “I worried I would be off for a month and they would decide someone else is better and then they would replace me. Those are the dark thoughts you have. It’s probably what put me off ­earlier in my life even thinking about having kids, because I thought, ‘How could I?’

“I think most women in the TV industry will admit you get a bit nervous about having time off to have a baby, especially if you have just worked your whole life to get where you are, which I have.”

Sian Welby worried about being ‘replaced’ on This Morning (Image: ITV)

Sian confessed that three months is the longest she’s ever had off work, and she “fully embraced” the break to give birth. She called welcoming her first child the “best thing” she’s ever done and was “loving every second” of being a mum.

Born in Nottingham, Sian landed her first presenting job for Channel 5 aged just 19 – while she was still working part-time at New Look as a shop assistant. By 2010 she had been announced as the new face of Channel 5 News.

Sian risked her steady New Look job to travel to London for a £175 presenting gig, confessing she missed a shift at the Newark store to go after her dreams.

Sian only took three months maternity leave (Image: Getty)

She said on the Sliding Doors podcast: “If I hadn’t risked it, I wouldn’t have done the advert which was played on a loop in Channel 5’s offices and got me my big TV break.

“I couldn’t get anyone to do my full 8 to 6 shift so I went behind my boss’s back and got someone to do 8 to 12 and someone to do 12 to 6. There was obviously something in me that went, ‘I’ve got to do this’.

“I was there since 8 but I hadn’t been used. At midday my phone rang and it’s the boss and I’m shaking because it’s not my character to be like ‘f**k I care too much, right?’ My boss was like where are you and I said don’t hate me but I’m in London and I’ve done an audition and I’m sorry she said, ‘What do you mean? Who’s going to lock up? You’ve put me in such a bad position.’”