Jessica Marais reveals she’s still growing as a mother while she co-parents with James Stewart

EIGHTEEN months after her split with James Stewart, Jessica Marais says she and her former fiance “manage as best as we can” to co-parent their daughter Scout.

EIGHTEEN months after her split with James Stewart, Jessica Marais says she and her former fiance “manage as best as we can” to co-parent their daughter Scout.

The Wrong Girl and Love Child actress, who appears on the cover of InStyle told the magazine (which goes on sale tomorrow) that fulfilling her role as a mum is a work in progress.

“I’ve been growing as a mother from day one,” Marais, who picked up a Logie earlier this year for her work on Love Child, said.

“I haven’t been perfect at it and there are lots of times I have absolutely thought ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m really overwhelmed, I’m really scared’, and then there are times when intuitively I’ve thought I can make really good decisions around my daughter whether or not other people [agree].”

Jessica Marais reveals she is still growing as a mother for Scout. Picture: Hugh Stewart for InStyle

Scout, who is four and a half, is looked after by both parents in turn. While Marais’s work on the Ten series The Wrong Girl took her to Melbourne for some months this year, Stewart’s role as Justin Morgan on Home and Away means the former couple have decided to call Sydney home.

“Because he’s on Home And Away, which is all year round in Sydney, it makes sense for us to be based here and for me to be the one that travels because it gives her that stability of a place and a routine. Over the last few weeks he’s been working a lot more and I’ve had her more fulltime and that shifts and changes.

“Ultimately [the important thing is] Scout is happy and well adjusted and responding well — and it seems as though she’s growing up with kindness, courage, love, all those qualities in her.”

Jess Marais and James Stewart with their daughter Scout, almost five-years-old.

Currently on Home and Away, James Stewart and Wrong Girl actress Jessica Marais split up in 2015. Picture: Darren England

And while she has two hit shows and a Logie under her belt for 2016, Marais says that her life is far from glamorous. The actress admits her fashion choices are now dictated by running around after a small child.

“I’m really loving white [clothing] at the moment, but the reality is it’s so not functional with a four-and-a-half-year-old — it just gets filthy.

“If I need to get Scout to day care, and then go for a run, and get everything done that I need to do, I will probably be in my trackies all day. I like to dress up for a nice lunch with friends — I might wash my hair and put on a nice outfit and whack a heel on — but the reality of ‘mum’ life is that sometimes you can’t — there’s just not enough time in the morning.”