Former EastEnders star Michael Greco was overcome with emotion on Tuesday's Loose Women as he talked about his baby son.
The 51-year-old actor appeared on the ITV lunchtime show alongside his girlfriend Helen Harris and their boy Gianluca, and became teary-eyed.
For the first part of his interview, Michael sat on the panel on his own with Ruth Langsford, Katie Piper, Brenda Edwards and Janet Street-Porter.
As Ruth mentioned a Holby City storyline in which Michael's character's son died, he began to open up about Gianluca's arrival into the world.
Little Gianluca was born six weeks premature in 2021 and was in ICU for several weeks.
Michael revealed at the start of July last year that his baby had been born early and was diagnosed with a rare defect called Gastroschisis.
"The timing was immaculate because my son had been born a couple of months before I started filming, he'd been born with a thing called Gastroschisis, which is when the bowel or the intestines are outside of the stomach.
"They didn't pick it up on the scan initially, and when they picked it up on the scan six weeks previous to him being born, the consultant said, 'we've gotta get him out because there's no movement' and we were worried about him being stillborn.
"So, when he was born she didn't show the full baby, she just showed his head and shoulders because underneath was this whole thing... God I get a little bit emotional talking about it," Michael said as he tried to catch his breath.
Ruth quickly said: "Oh I know, I know. But you know what, he's alright now, and I know it's very emotional and we don't wanna upset you."
Moments later she subtly passed a tissue to Michael as he remarked: "Thank you very much... so yeah there wasn't much emotion that I had to act out, it was all drawn on from my experiences and acting is about experiences, but I'm a crying wreck now!"
He then added: "I have the say the last couple of years, and especially the last seven months since Gianluca was born, it has affected my mental health more than anything."
Michael was then joined by Helen and Gianluca as the Loose Women panel cooed over the adorable tot, who looked very happy and healthy.
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12:30pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
