Newly single Bianca Gascoigne: ‘I’m freezing my eggs – it’s a relief not to worry about the clock ticking!’

Just last year she was planning marriage and babies with her then-boyfriend Kris Boyson.

But now, four months after their split, Bianca Gascoigne is taking no chances with her dream to one day start a family and has decided to freeze her eggs.

Opening up to Closer in an exclusive chat, Bianca, 34, says she plans to have the procedure later this year to take the pressure off meeting a new partner and settling down.

“I’m 35 in October and I’m at the age where women start to worry about their biological clock,” she explains. “I want the option to have children in the future and didn’t want to leave it too late. I definitely see settling down and having kids as the next stage in my life, but seeing as I’m single now it makes sense to do this as a kind of insurance.”

When Bianca and fitness guru Kris were together, they made no secret of their plans to have children – saying they hoped she’d get pregnant this year. At the time, Bianca said, “We’re not getting any younger, I think we’ll have really cute babies”, adding that they’d even discussed names. But since they split earlier this year after drifting apart, Bianca has held on to the idea of having children.

“We spoke about marriage and having children, it was definitely on the cards,” says Bianca. “Now I’m single, I think, ‘Oh, it was a lovely idea’ and that’s the first time I’d properly thought like that.”

Bianca – who was with Kris for a year – admits she hasn’t always been maternal, but when her best friend had children, she changed her mind about the prospect of having them herself.

She says, “I was never one of these girls who said, ‘I want to get married at this age and have this many kids’. But over the past few years I’ve started to think I’d like to be a mum. One of my best friends has three children and I absolutely love and adore them. My friend is now absolutely desperate for me to have children too, she says there’s no better feeling in the world.”

The process of egg freezing involves daily hormone injections to produce several eggs and then a minor operation to retrieve them. It costs around £5000-£6,000 and isn’t a decision Bianca has taken lightly.

“I’ve done lots of research and have two consultations booked for next week in the hope I can start as soon as possible,” she explains. “It’s not an easy process – you have to inject yourself with hormones and then have the operation. You also have to pay a fee every year to keep your eggs frozen. But I feel relaxed about it, and it’s a relief to not have to worry about my fertility declining now.

“I know there is no guarantee it will result in a pregnancy further down the line, but I have been told the younger you are when you freeze your eggs, the greater the chance of success, so it makes sense to do it now. There is also the chance I will meet someone and fall pregnant naturally, but doing this gives me some hope of preserving my fertility if I need to.”

Bianca also says she hopes taking matters into her own hands will take the pressure off future relationships. She says, “I don’t want to meet someone and be thinking that the clock’s ticking and have to rush into anything. I want to make sure it’s the right time, with the right person. The idea of having children is a big deal for me and it has to be completely right.”

Check out: 31 of Celebrity Big Brother's most outrageous moments EVER

WATCH: Danielle Lloyd's pregnancy announcement with Closer magazine: Behind The Scenes

READ MORE

Romeo Beckham’s engagement is ‘bittersweet’ for Victoria

Celeb pals beg pregnant Stacey Solomon to slow down

Dawn French embraces natural hair with edgy new look

And the CBB star – whose stepdad is football legend Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne – has the full support of her friends and family, including mum Sheryl.

“My mum has always wanted me to have children, she thinks being a mum will be the making of me,” Bianca reveals. “She was desperate to be a grandmother and she’s waited so long. My brother Mason has just had a baby and it’s lovely to see how much it’s changed him as a person. For now, it’s great being an auntie, my nephew Teddy is such a smiley baby and I can’t wait to have little chats with him when he’s older and take him out!”

She adds, “Settling down and having kids is definitely something I want. I’d love to have a boy first, I’d really like a son. And then a girl – one of each would be brilliant!”

Get the best celeb interviews in Closer magazine each week.