Gemma Atkinson has responded to the backlash she has received over her unborn son's nursery 'conforming to stereotypes'.
It comes after the Hits Radio host revealed a special finishing touch to the newly decroated room. The former Emmerdale actress announced back in January that she and her fiance, Strictly Come Dancing star Gorka Marquez are expecting their second child together.
Ahead of welcoming their new arrival, Gemma and Gorka have had their unborn son's nursery decorated, along with a new look for their three-year-old daughter Mia's bedroom, Manchester Evening News reports.
The 38-year-old has kept her army of fans up to date with the process and recently revealed the new bedrooms on her Instagram stories. Gemma recently revealed she had reached out to a local businesswoman on Instagram who paints murals and asked her to design something for each of her children's bedrooms.
And on Wednesday, April 12, Gemma showed off the finished results. However, the decor choices did not go down so well with everyone - with some accusind the star of 'conforming to gender stereotypes'.
"The rooms are finished!" Gemma wrote in a post on her Instagram Story. "Mia's 'big girl' room is done and little man's nursery is painted. Just need to get final bits of furniture down from the loft."
"We're reusing Mia's old cot and drawers," she added.
Then, filming inside Mia's room, she showed off the mural which featured a sign that reads: "Mia's Magic Fairy Forest", before she showed intricate drawings of a fairy and unicorn. Her three-year-old had requested the design.
A rainbow is also painted across the wall while in the middle is three-year-old Mia's face drawn onto a fairy's body, sporting a blue dress and with long blonde hair tied by a pink scrunchie. "It's lovely," Gemma is heard saying over the video. "So nice," she added.
She then moved onto the nursery where she gave fans a look at what will be her son's room.
"So I guess he has no choice but to love animals too," she typed alongside a crying laughing and heart emojis as she showed how the pale blue walls had been adorned with various animals resting among clouds.
But there was one special addition to the mural - Gemma's dogs Norman and Ollie. The pet pooches had been painted on the wall on one of the clouds. "For little man I wanted animals on the wall, obvs, but look at the best bit..." the mum-of-two-to-be was heard saying over the clip.
However, returning to Instagram on Thursday morning (April 13) Gemma exposed one of the messages she had received as she issued a response. It read: "Not saying this in a judgy way because I think it's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure you've chosen something you know she will love...
"But it really plays into society's gender stereotypes for girls, doesn't it? Pink, fairies, rainbows, pretty things... And blue for a boy." Quick to respond, Gemma said: "I've had a few of these msgs and I find it really baffling.
"We didn't choose Mia's room. She did. She told the painter all [of] her favourite colours & [the] characters she wanted. I designed the nursery with animals which I love & blue is one of my favourite colours. Always has been because it reminds me of the ocean."
The Bury-born star went on to say: "I've actually never been into pink. It doesn't mean I'm going against a stereotype or I want to be a boy or that I'm anti 'girl colours'. It simply means that my favourite colour is blue and not pink." Gemma then ended her post by writing: "Jesus Christ give me strength today," adding a string of crying laughing emojis.
She then posted a video of two of her daughter's scooters, one of which was pink and the other blue. "I don't know what to do now... Oh cr*p. Should I say you can't go on this one, this one's for your brother only and this is for you?" she said with laughter in her voice.
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