Amanda Holden has shared a moving tribute to her stillborn son Theo on the 14th anniversary of his death.
In 2011, the Britain’s Got Talent judge was seven months into her pregnancy with her music producer husband Chris Hughes when their son died and she had to deliver him by C-section.
On February 1, Holden honoured what would have been her child’s 14th birthday with a touching post.
The Heart Radio presenter, 53, wrote: "Our beautiful boy would have been 14 today."
Last year, she shared a photo of a lit candle to mark the heartbreaking day and wrote,"You would have become a teenager today... #Theo," followed by a red love heart emoji.
Holden was 28 weeks pregnant when a routine scan revealed that Theo’s heart had stopped.
The TV star and her husband then made the devastating decision to deliver him with a C-section.
In 2022, she reflected on the “surreal, out-of-body experience” and her fears about telling her eldest daughter Lexi, now 19.
"We lost our baby Theo at 28 weeks, and they very sensitively moved me into another room so I could deliver him without having to hear the lovely babies screaming on a normal ward," she said on Heart Radio.
"Often that's not thought about, it's little things like that. I just remember hearing this woman just screaming and screaming and then it was actually - it was me, I realised it was me that was screaming.
"It was the most surreal, out-of-body experience and I was actually calling my daughter's name because I was just terrified about what to tell Lexi at the time."
Holden initially didn’t want to hold Theo after the C-section, but mustered the courage and said goodbye to her son.
"I held him in my arms and I said goodbye, basically,” she bravely recalled.
“But I couldn't have done it without the incredible team around us. My husband was so strong and so amazing but they got him through it too."
A stillbirth is defined as a “baby born dead after 24 completed weeks pf pregnancy”, according to the NHS.
Tragically, one in every 250 births in England results in stillbirth.
Holden shares Lexi and daughter Holly, 13, with Hughes.
She suffered a torn artery during Hollie’s birth and her heart stopped for 40 seconds. She then slipped into a four-day coma.
"I had a condition, placenta accreta. The baby was stuck to my bladder. I lost a lot of blood. It took 36 people to save me – and I can't thank them enough," she told The Guardian.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity). You can call them on 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@sands.org.uk
