Gemma Atkinson has given birth to her second child with Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Gorka Marquez.
The former Emmerdale actor, 38, announced on Instagram that she and her fiancé had welcomed a baby son, whom she called “utterly wonderful”.
Writing on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday morning (19 July), Atkinson told her 1.8m followers: “Little man is here! He arrived safe and sound and he’s utterly wonderful.
“We’re all home together soaking up this lovely little bubble before Gorks has to leave for Strictly rehearsals next week.”
She added: “Thank you for all the lovely well wishes. Our family is complete.”
Her partner Marquez shared the same message on his own Instagram page.
The couple, who already share a three-year-old daughter, Mia, met when Atkinson appeared on Strictly Come Dancing as a celebrity contestant in 2017. Though they were not coupled up on the dancefloor, the pair started dating after the show wrapped.
When Atkinson gave birth to their first child, Mia, in 2019, she needed an emergency c-section and suffered a haemorrhage after the birth, losing nearly a litre of blood. Following the experience she said she was initially “adamant” that she and Marquez would not want another child.
Atkinson said their baby son is ‘utterly wonderful’— (Instagram via @glouiseatkinson)
“All these things were going through my mind, what did I do that caused all that to happen? I was telling myself for weeks and weeks I’d failed at childbirth,” the actor told Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch last year.
“I was having horrible dreams that someone was going to take Mia from me. I remember my mum running into my bedroom and I was sat up screaming, sweating.”
Atkinson added that a woman approached her and her mum when she was out with Mia one day and said: “Oh I believe it [the birth] wasn’t a success was it, you know, what happened?”
Gemma Atkinson and Gorka Marquez in 2019— (Getty Images)
Atkinson’s mother replied: “It was a huge success, Mia’s there, Gemma’s here, total success.”
“Something clicked in me then,” Atkinson said of the exchange. “My body had done me proud because it had recovered and got me through.
“I’m at the stage where I want a sister or brother for Mia. The first few months of Mia’s life, I kept saying to my partner, Gorka, ‘I’m not going through that again’. I’ve now come out of it and I feel I could.”
According to the Birth Trauma Association (BTA), around 30,000 women per year experience birth trauma in the UK.
The radio presenter said at the time that she met with a psychotherapist to learn more about birth trauma and how women can be helped through it.
“It was strangely comforting speaking to the women, it makes you feel like you’re not on your own, you’re not the only person who had a difficult labour,” Atkinson added.
