Viewers of ITV's Lorraine have slammed the breakfast show host after the presenter conducted an interview with two new parents. Lorraine, 62, welcomed Manisha and Metaish Parmar onto today's show (March 15) to discuss their journey out of Ukraine.
In early February, the couple, who are from Luton, travelled to be with their surrogate in Kyiv. They have suffered a lot of heartbreak with regards to trying to start a family over the years, with surrogacy being their only hope.
Speaking to Lorraine, Manisha said: "Life was normal there, there was nothing going on... everything was as normal". But, shortly after Manisha and Metaish's surrogate gave birth to twins, the family had to find shelter in a pitch-black bunker as war broke out.
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Manisha said: "It was very dangerous, we just had to take the risk and do whatever we needed to to save our six lives, because my in-laws were with us as well. Metaish just said 'Right, okay, this is it, we need to go - no matter what happens, we just need to get out of Kyiv and get to Lviv."
A 'hero' driver, who the couple have made the godfather of their twins, took the family on a 17-hour journey across Ukraine so that they could get official documentation for the babies in order to escape the country. Manisha said: "We had to get the emergency travel documents.
"We were trying from day one when the war broke out to try and get these documents electronically, but the embassy wasn’t having any of it. They said 'our job is done, the documents are ready if you want to get out then you need to travel 17 hours to Lviv and physically be there to pick up the documents'."
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As the couple told their story to Lorraine, viewers took to social media to criticise Lorraine for not mentioning, or interviewing, the Ukrainian surrogate mother. Bella said: "#lorraine on tv talking about Ukrainian surrogacy without the birth mother…. @reallorraine"
"I may have missed it but I don’t think they asked about the surrogates safety #lorraine", commented Shirley Maria. Stephanie wrote: "Feel a bit uncomfortable about people using surrogacy in Ukraine. There are a lot of other babies now trapped there, heartbreaking situation all round #lorraine"
Ralph said: "#lorraine why didn't they bring out the surrogate? How can they say she is ok and safe! She's in a war zone .........!!"
A number of viewers expressed their concern for the situation, and said that Lorraine had not asked about the surrogate mother. But the host did question Manisha and Metaish on the welfare of their surrogate.
She said: "I have to ask you obviously, of course, the first thought is for you and the babies, but is your surrogate okay?"
Manisha clarified that the surrogate was safe, to which Lorraine replied: "Oh that’s great, because really this surrogacy was both of you. You tried so hard and had such heartbreak over the years to have children, and this really was your last hope. And of course, it's legal in Ukraine, they’ve got very good laws in place with regards to surrogacy."
During the ordeal, the family had to travel in freezing conditions with the newborn twins to get back to the UK. Manisha said: "Yeah, they’re just miracle war babies. Honestly, we are so truly, truly blessed to have them with us today."
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