Richie Myler has welcomed a baby with new girlfriend Stephanie Thirkill, 11 months after splitting from wife Helen Skelton.
TV presenter and former Strictly Come Dancing star Skelton, 39, announced on social media last April that she and rugby player Myler were calling time on their marriage after eight years and three children.
Myler’s coach Rohan Smith confirmed that the Leeds Rhinos star has become a dad again after new girlfriend Stephanie Thirkill gave birth to their first child together.
Rohan said: “Richie has spent a bunch of time in hospital with the birth of his new little baby, so we’ve given him a little time off to settle in at home.”
A tabloid reported in October that Ms Thirkill – the daughter of Leeds Rhinos president Andrew Thirkill, who is one of the richest businessmen in Leeds and is worth an estimated £175 million – was pregnant, but the couple decided to stay tight-lipped about it.
Last month, Myler shared a picture from what looked like a maternity shoot on Instagram.
The black and white image showed them embracing each other lovingly with her blossoming baby bump visible.
He simply captioned his post with a red love heart emoji.
The move comes after Myler deleted his Instagram account earlier this year after previously posting about being trolled with “abusive messages” on his social media posts following his split from Skelton, and he temporarily switched them to private.
“I’ve decided to put my profile private from now on. If you are on here to share my photos or stories of me and my life maliciously to other people or waste your time sending me abusive messages please just unfollow me,” he shared in January.
“I’m going to start removing people from my account one by one, so if you are a genuine rugby fan and I accidentally remove you I apologise in advance and will accept you back! Thank you.”
