Clarke Gayford on vicious rumours and raising a baby with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Clarke Gayford has revealed he's been forced to tone down his social media behaviour after being smeared as the subject of a false rumour campaign.

The Prime Minister's partner was the subject of a whispering campaign that forced Police National Headquarters to issue a public statement saying Gayford was not, and had not been, under investigation for any offence.

Gayford, in an interview with Britain's the Guardian, said the saga had forced him to make changes.

"If I talk about it now, it just pours more petrol on it."

But he had felt compelled to rein in having "a good rant on Facebook" and had felt "like a right chump" having to edit his own Wikipedia page to remove another false rumour - that he had once been a police cadet, the Guardian reported.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's baby is due on June 17 and Gayford said he had received plenty of parenting advice, including from former US president Barack Obama during his visit to New Zealand (his advice was: don't panic, it's okay to make mistakes).

Ardern plans to return to work after a six-week break, leaving Gayford literally holding the baby and learning how to function on little sleep.

"I'm hoping my years of DJing will pay off," he joked.

The couple have yet to reveal the baby's gender and Gayford said he had started thinking about the little person on the way.

"With each trip to your scans, where you see a little face developing, you start to think about all the projections you have on them as a person," he told the Guardian.

He and Ardern had yet to have a proper discussion about raising a child in such a high- public role.

"At the end of the day, we're just New Zealanders. We all know each other. Life still goes on as per normal."

Asked by the Guardian if they had thought about what their child would inherit, Gayford said: "There's a strong line of Gayford noses."

And temperament? He has read how an expectant mother "should be calm and clearheaded with thoughts of bunnies and fields" as he watches Ardern debating in Parliament.

"I'm hoping the child picks up some of mum's temperament."

Gayford said his two sisters were his parenting role models. One sister has three boys under the age of 4, his other sister has two young girls.

"I'm in their world a lot. You get a warts-and-all commentary. And my parents, of course."

So it turns out that not only do Dolphins not help, they actually quite like watching.
A childhood myth is ruined. pic.twitter.com/yWZPeD9fGJ

— Clarke Gayford (@NZClarke) May 16, 2018

Gayford, who hosts TV show Fish of the Day, was also asked about his recent diving encounter when he had to fend off a bronze whaler shark.

Asked if he would still be fighting off sharks as a father, he said he had stopped pushing himself so hard after experiencing a blackout in the water.

However, "it's those moments that make you feel truly alive," he told the Guardian.

Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Ardern during their visit to Europe.

As NZ's "first bloke" Gayford explained how he could be meeting with British royalty one week, but then disappearing to Gisborne to go bush with a mate the next.

During Ardern's Europe visit he got to discuss fishing with Prince Charles, while the Prime Minister had swapped parenting notes with Prince William.

Gayford said he was fortunate to dip in and out of his partner's "surreal" role.

When he needed a "reset" he jumped in his ute and drove to Gisborne to catch up with an old friend who "literally lives in the bush".