Rebecca Adlington has shared the emotional news that she is expecting her third child after suffering two devastating miscarriages.
The Olympic swimmer and BBC presenter, 36, announced the pregnancy on Instagram with a touching black-and-white photo of her baby scan, calling it a “small miracle.” She admitted that after 19 months of trying, the journey had been “an emotional and physical rollercoaster.”
In her heartfelt message, she explained: “We questioned whether we wanted to share this news but we want to continue to be open and honest about our journey. While we are cautiously overjoyed, we carry awareness of the quiet struggles many face, and we send love to those hearts too.”
Rebecca and her husband Andy Parsons already share two-year-old son Albie, while she is also mum to daughter Summer, eight, from her previous marriage to Harry Needs. The couple’s happy announcement was quickly flooded with support from fans and celebrity friends, including Sam Quek and Holly Ramsay, who congratulated them with messages of joy.
The news comes after Rebecca spoke bravely about her past losses. In 2022, she suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks due to a molar pregnancy that required emergency surgery. The following year, she endured a second miscarriage at 20 weeks and had to give birth, later admitting she “hated her body” because it still looked pregnant after the trauma.
Speaking to ITV’s This Morning last month, Rebecca said: “It’s incredibly hard. I fell out of love with my body, even though it gave me two healthy children and four Olympic gold medals, I just couldn’t understand why it had let me down.”
Andy also opened up about the often-overlooked male perspective, explaining how counselling through the baby-loss charity Petals helped them process their grief. “There’s not enough support for men in this situation,” he said. “We’d lost a child too, and while the focus is rightly on the mother, dads also need help.”
Now, with careful optimism, the couple are embracing what they call their “miracle” baby.
