Emmerdale star Michelle Hardwick has revealed the gender of her second child during a joint appearance on Loose Women with her wife. The actress, who plays Vanessa Woodfield in the ITV soap, appeared on the ITV chat show with Kate Brooks to discuss their impending arrival.
Michelle announced that she and Kate, who is a producer on Emmerdale, were expecting another child last month. The soap star, 46, took to social media to reveal the happy news that she and wife Kate, who already share a son named Teddy, were to become mums again alongside an adorable snap.
Taking to Instagram, Michelle, who returned to the Dales last year, shared a photo of a large TV screen in their announcement and penned: "COMING THIS WINTER... Baby Brooks #2." Underneath the TV, their son could be seen putting his hands up and grinning in clear excitement.
Michelle also confirmed how far along in her pregnancy she is. "We are super excited about our gorgeous news! 20 weeks today and I can almost rest a cup of tea on my bump! #big brother," she wrote alongside the cute snap.
And during their Loose Women appearance today, Michelle and Kate happily announced Teddy is going to have a little sister. Michelle announced excitedly: "So baby number two is a little girl!" The couple were congratulated by the panelists - Christine Lampard, Denise Welch, Coleen Nolan, and Janet Street-Porter - and later brought on son Teddy to help celebrate the happy news.
The couple, who got married at Elvis Presley's iconic Graceland in Memphis, also spoke to the panel about their IVF journey for both their son and unborn daughter. The donor is the same one they used for Teddy, so the siblings will be biologically related.
"We didn’t really know much about it," Michelle admitted about the process. "It was as simple as: ‘what characteristics, what colour hair’ and we were like ‘we don’t really know, as long as they’re kind and a lovely person’, but they sent through two donor CVs." They explained how they haven't seen a photo of the donor but said they wanted to choose someone who was "kind, intelligent and had good family attributes".
On the decision for Michelle to carry their babies, the actress shared: “I’m 46 now, so when we started with Teddy, my eggs weren’t going to be amazing." Kate added: “I was 37, so even for me, it was still touch and go as to whether they’d get a lot of eggs. But luckily for us I was pretty fertile." Denise, however, was surprised as she interjected and asked Michelle in suprise: "You’re 46?!"
Back in 2020, Michelle announced their baby boy's safe arrival with a black and white snap on Instagram which showed Michelle beaming in her hospital bed with the little boy snuggled beside her wrapped in a towel and wearing a knitted hat. A second photo, which was in colour, showed the then-newborn under a rainbow blanket as Michelle gazes down adoringly at him. The actress captioned the post: "On Friday 9th October, this handsome little chap entered the world. Edward 'Teddy' Peter Brooks we are so in love with you #ourlittleTeddyboy.."
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