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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Joel Leaver & Ryan Paton

Peter Crouch hails Abbey Clancy as she shares trauma after daughter's health scare

Abbey Clancy has revealed how she still suffers with anxiety after her daughter's health scare.

The 37-year-old shares four children with former Liverpool FC striker, Peter Crouch. The married couple host a podcast called the Therapy Crouch and spoke about "neurotic" parents on the latest episode.

The BT Sports pundit claimed his wife is "very cautious of the kids doing anything that would hurt them". Abbey explained how she believes her fears stem from their eldest daughter Sophia, now 12, having been at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London when she was a baby - as Mirror Online reports.

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She said: "I think obviously the main reason is when Sophia was a baby and she had a health issue which was at the time literally the most scariest time of my entire life.

"She had this operation and it was probably the most traumatic part of my life. We were in [the hospital] for three weeks after that. I went down to like 7 stone didn't I?"

Abbey suggested that people didn't know about the situation at the time, with her saying: "You don't know what people are going through at home. [So] always be kind."

Peter heaped praise on his wife and said how she lived at the hospital full-time. He added: "That instinct from you as a mother was unbelievable how you behaved in that situation."

The 42-year-old said that although he now teases Abbey over her anxieties, he praises her approach to the difficult situation when their eldest child was unwell around a decade ago.

And he recalled "dragging" his wife out of the hospital to get lunch once because she "wouldn't leave". Abbey however recalled that she "couldn't eat" at the time.

Abbey - who at one point said she was having a panic attack recalling the experience - said: "You have to trust someone with your baby's life. It's the most unnatural thing. I can't even go to a hospital now can I after that? In the past, when one of the kids fell and cut their finger or something and might need a stitch, I cannot go. I have got this innate fear and phobia."

She assured that Sophia is "healthy" years on from the experience though, with her saying: "Just to be clear she's absolutely fine now. There's absolutely nothing wrong."

Abbey - who praised the staff at the hospital - said they have "overcome" the experience and acknowledged that some children aren't as fortunate as hers'.

Abbey said she visited a hypnotherapist over her anxieties once, with her saying: "[It] was incredible. He'd just give you certain thought strategies and ways to cope."

Peter said: "Even now, if the kids have a cough it's something far worse. If we have a cold, it's pneumonia. That's how you think. [...] You consistently do that on a daily basis."

Abbey said: "I definitely think [the experience with Sophia] is where it all stems from for me. I try and be more rational with things but as you say [the kids] have a cough and I'm like 'it's something serious.' I think it stems from that trauma and it is something that I am working on."

Discussing the impact that it has on their lives, the couple teased that Abbey gets anxious about their children going on school trips because of potential risks to them.

She said: "[My trauma] filters through to the ridiculous. I don't want them to go on a school trip because I don't want them to go on the bus because if something happened..."

And the model - who said she volunteers on every school trip as a result - even recalled having been scared to have another baby after their experience with Sophia's health.

She said: "I was so scared of having another baby because I just didn't want anything to be wrong [...] I can't cope with things. I just want the kids to be happy and healthy."

Peter however told her: "You say you can't cope. [...] You've proved that you can. Like something kicks in. [...] I watch you go [from] neurotic to a super-parent".

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