Shaughna Phillips shocked her fans when she announced that she was pregnant with her mystery boyfriend last week and, in a new photoshoot, is positively glowing as she cradled her blossoming baby bump.
The 28-year-old, who appeared on the 2020 series of the hit ITV2 show, announced the news on Instagram with footage of her having an ultrasound and clips of a positive pregnancy test.
While the announcement came as a complete surprise to fans, who hadn't known she had a boyfriend as he wants to stay out of the public eye, it wasn't a total shock to Shaughna.
"I came off the pill because we’d had the conversation about having children. I said, 'I don’t really want kids before I’m 30 but I want to be off it and I want to let my body adjust,'" she told OK! Magazine. "But I got pregnant two months after I came off. I was so shocked. It wasn’t an accident, but it definitely came out of the blue because it happened a lot quicker than I was expecting.
"Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the most convenient time. We’re living at my mum’s and we’re building a house pretty much from scratch, but is there ever a right time?,"
Shaughna has never shared photos with her partner - who is a businessman and property developer - on social media as he wishes to stay private and out of the public eye.
Opening up about how he had reacted to the news, she said: "He was working so I rang him and I was like, 'Are you on your own?' He was like, 'Yeah...' I said, 'I’m pregnant,' and he was like, 'OK, alright then.' I think it took him a minute for it to sink it."
The couple are hoping to move out of her mum's home next year and have bought their own house, but they have to do a lot of work to the property to make it liveable.
Sharing the reason why her partner, who she first met when they were teenagers, wants to remain anonymous, she said: "It’s not my decision. If I could share him, I would. He just doesn’t want to be in the public eye. I have to respect his wishes. Never say never."
She's also teased that marriage is definitely on the cards in the future, saying: "I actually said to him the other day, 'I’m so glad that you have to marry me now that we’re having a baby.' But yeah, definitely.
"I feel like a baby is way more of a commitment, though. I always used to think, 'We need to get married,' but now we’ve bought a house and we know how much stuff costs, I’m like, 'Take me to the registry office and get me a ring from Argos!'"
