Arthur Gourounlian says fatherhood has brought him and hubby Brian Dowling even closer after they made a special pact when their daughter was born this year.
The Dancing With The Stars judge and his former Big Brother star hubby welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Blake Maria Rose Dowling Gournounlian, on September 1 with the help of Brian's sister Aoife, who acted as their surrogate.
And the besotted new dad said life since her arrival has been a ‘dream come true’, after years of longing to begin a family with the Dublin born TV star.
Read more: Big Brother's Brian Dowling celebrates first Christmas with 'miracle daughter'
Armenian born dancer Arthur told Irish Daily Mirror: “People don’t believe me when I say it but I feel like we have been doing this all of our lives.
“I think because all of my life I wanted to be a parent, I wanted to be a family.
“I always wanted a family over even getting married to Brian, so we always laugh, but the thing is, I feel like I don’t know any different. It’s like she has always been here.
“I’m not even tired. I have more energy than I've ever had. I don’t know how.
“But also I think we’ve been so blessed with Blake, because she is such a good baby. She’s entertaining us all the time, she sleeps great, I can’t complain. She is just perfection.
“And I know we are biased.
“I think fatherhood for Brian and I has been amazing. And also we have this pact. There is no ‘it’s your turn’.
“We are doing whatever we can. And it works perfectly.”
The showbiz duo have documented every step along their journey in their new RTE show, Brian and Arthur’s Very Modern Family, to showcase the reality of surrogacy in Ireland.
And Arthur said they are bustling with ideas to do more screen work in the future, saying: “We want to refresh Ireland’s TV.
“We love life. And we are very transparent,” the dance choreographer and TV judge said.
“So whatever you see on social media, that’s how we are. We are bonkers, we are full of life. Of course, 100 percent we would love to do shows together.
“I mean if there is an opportunity for us, absolutely. The documentary is the first thing we are doing to put ourselves out there, but also it is not going to be the crazy Arthur and Brian because obviously it is the serious topic and emotion involved, but we said we still want to be ourselves. So fingers crossed, whoever is reading this will see, absolutely me and Brian have ideas for TV shows.
“Ireland is expanding and there are a lot more things happening, so we want to refresh Ireland’s TV with some crazy, amazing and fun shows together. 100 percent.”
In the meantime, he is preparing to return to the judging hot seat on RTE’s Dancing with the Stars, after joining the panel last year, and told of excitement for his daughter to see him in action on screen.
He said: “I am so excited to go back to work. I cannot wait. January 8th can’t come quick enough. It is so exciting.
“And like we have this joke, will she recognise me on TV, will she recognise Papa, because she loves the screen, loves colours and loves watching TV, so it will be great to see her reaction when she sees me on TV.
“How she will react. So I am buzzing to go back to work for sure.”
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