Former I’m A Celebrity contestant Rebecca Adlington has opened up about losing her baby girl.
The Olympic champion swimmer has suffered a miscarriage and a still birth – the first was discovered during a routine 12-week scan in 2022, and then in 2023, she was five months into her pregnancy when a scan revealed there was no heartbeat. Two days later, she gave birth to her daughter Harper, reports the Express.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday (September 16), Rebecca confessed that the loss “eats away at you”.
Talking about giving birth to Harper, she said: “Normally, you go through the birth and you get this wonderful, incredible child. So to not have that and to be giving birth to your baby and you’re not going to see them open their eyes, you’re not going to hear them cry, you’re not going to do these things, it’s really hard.”
The star opened up about her miscarriages
Rebecca, who tied the knot with her husband Andy Parsons in 2021, said the hospital staff were “fantastic” and explained everything to them.
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“They explained what she was going to look like, because their colouring is a little bit different, and what to expect,” she said.
“They really do prepare you and that does put your mind at ease. They put a little hat on her, gave her a little blanket, and then came through.
Rebecca opened up on BBC Breakfast(Image: BBC screengrab)
“And then I did want to see her. My gut told me in that moment, I was like, ‘I absolutely do want to see her.’ And it’s, honestly, I say all the time now, I’m like, I’m so glad I did. I’m really, really glad I did. Just to be able to actually see how she was developed and see her little nose and her little hands.
“And even though it was really difficult, I think I would have regretted that decision if I hadn’t seen her.”
The star, 36, had previously become a mother to a daughter in 2015 and a son in 2021.
She admitted that after two healthy pregnancies and natural births, she “didn’t even consider the kind of danger aspect, or that it wasn’t going to go as planned”.
The star said it does ‘change you'(Image: ITV screengrab)
“It does change you,” she confessed. “It definitely eats away at you. It’s definitely hard to process. You feel guilt that something… Is it something I did? You ask all these questions of yourself.
“That trauma, it just lives with you and it eats away at you and it’s something that doesn’t get easier with time if you just bottle it up and don’t talk about it.”
Rebecca, who was a contestant on I’m A Celebrity in 2013, also shared how she found support from the pregnancy and baby loss charity Petals, describing it as an “absolute lifeline” for them.