As part of a new Channel 5 documentary, Laura is set to remove herself from her family responsibilities – which include looking after herself, her husband, five children, her parents and two dogs.
Appearing on Channel 5’s new reality show Wife on Strike, Laura explains that prior to the programme she was a people pleaser who tried to keep everyone happy.
The 37-year-old woman is among three featured women on the broadcast, which gives a new insight into the pressures experienced within family life.
She gets up at 4.30am every day to start her marathon of looking after other people and doesn’t normally get back to bed until after 10.30pm.
Laura Ben Salem is a self-confessed people pleaser – “I try to please everybody, I can’t use that word NO,” she says.
In the first episode, Laura, 37, from Greenwich, South East London is seen driving her kids to school, which she does everyday, there and back. She also takes her husband of 16 years to and from his commute to the city. When he gets home, rather than help out with the family, he likes to have a rest.
“He’s always holding up,” she says. “As soon as he gets home from work he’ll go straight upstairs.” Wassim is then seen snoring on the bed. “He doesn’t do much,” Laura continues, “he doesn’t cook, he doesn’t clean, he doesn’t hoover, he doesn’t make the bed, he doesn’t do the washing, he doesn’t do the drying, he doesn’t put the clothes away.”
But in his defence, her husband Wassim, who is from a traditional Tunisian family, said that it was only what he was used to. He said: “I’ve been brought up in a family that (sic) the mother she’ll look after the children, she’ll look after the husband, she’ll look after the house. The husband he’ll work hard to provide for the family. I work in the city. When I come back I wanna rest a little bit.”
Later on in the programme, Laura was seen making dinner, which is often three different dishes to cater to everyone’s tastes. After calling to her family that the dinner was ready and then mopping the floor, Laura revealed her continued frustration. “Enough’s enough,” she said. “I’m not gonna keep tidying up after them. It’s not even just physically, it’s mentally draining.
She continued: “I say it all the time, all the time, that’s it I’ve had enough. ‘Ahh yeah, where you gonna go?’ And before I’ve even finished having this little paddy, they’re all standing at my car waiting for me.
Laura will leave the family home for a week, with the responsibilities being left to Wassim, who said: “It’s gonna be Wassim’s sweet dictatorship. One dinner for everyone and if they don’t like it, tough.”