She's had a roller-coaster love life, with more than one heartache playing out in the public eye. But former TOWIE star Ferne McCann was overjoyed in July 2022, when partner Lorri Haines got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.
And now the couple have announced they're having a baby.
"We have been bursting at the seams with happiness and so excited to officially share our lovely news with you," Ferne said in an Instagram post on 6 March.
"After such a long time keeping this secret to ourselves 😬 we finally get to share it with everyone 🙌🏻," wrote Lorri on Instgram
"Me and @fernemccann ARE HAVING A BABY ♥️ 💙
"’m sooooooooo happy and excited to be sharing this magical experience and expanding our family. You are my soul mate @fernemccann and you are the best mother, I can’t wait to raise this baby with you."
Speaking to Closer late last year, Ferne said, “I haven’t thought too much about wedding plans. We made the decision that we would like to have another baby first... I find it strange – I'm not that sort of person who is like, ‘I’m going to book a venue for two years’ time’. I just can’t get my head around that because I am not super organised. But then again, I love throwing a party. So maybe I need to view it as the ultimate party!”
Ferne – who first rose to fame on TOWIE in 2013 – got pregnant with her daughter Sunday in 2017 with 29-year-old Arthur Collins, announcing the happy news just days before he was arrested for orchestrating an acid attack. His 20-year prison sentence came just weeks after Sunday’s birth.
The situation left Ferne facing her pregnancy alone, using her TV show, First Time Mum, back in 2017 to document her journey as single mum to Sunday.
Speaking to us in September 2022, Ferne said, “I really want a baby now. I’m so ready. But do you know what, every baby is a miracle, and it will happen when it’s meant to be. But with Billie [Shepherd] being pregnant – and I spent time with her and Greg on our summer holiday in Greece in August – I was just rubbing her bump and feeling so cosy for her. It would be so nice if I could fall pregnant soon – you can tell I’ve thought about this more than my bloody wedding – then my baby and Billie’s baby would be in the same school year. It’s like the new generation! It will happen when it happens.”
After a series of failed relationships in recent years – including a brief fling with Love Island's Jordan Haines and relationships with city trader Albie Gibbs and nightclub promoter Jack Padgett – the reality star finally met her knight in shining armour in real estate agent Lorri, after he slid into her DMs.
Fans were able to witness the moment Lorri got down on one knee while on a holiday in France, with the proposal being aired on an episode of First Time Mum. And with Lorri leaving his life in Dubai behind to move in with Ferne – and be closer to his son, who he shares from a previous relationship – the two are going from strength to strength.
Talking about Lorri, Ferne gushes "I love this relationship because we both equally want to work on it. I've learned that a loving relationship is not all about love, and that was my misconception. I thought it was going to be this romantic fantasy, but actually you have to do life together. We’re adults now. We both met each other at the same stage of our lives – we’ve both done the partying, we’re both parents, we’re both the same age. I think we found each other at the right stage.”
But she adds that, as with all relationships, her husband-to-be does have his share of bad habits.
“You see on the show I tried to get rid of his silk pyjamas. They’re like bridesmaid pyjamas! And we often bicker over the air fryer. It was new to me, we blended our lives, and he brought the air fryer with him,” Ferne laughs.
And in five years’ time, the TV star hopes her life will look somewhat different. She shares, “In five years, I’ll be three years off being 40, which is mad. I’d love to say I’ve got my 10 kids, we’re living on a farm – no, I’m joking. I definitely want to have more babies, and I’ve got some really exciting projects coming up, which you’ll see in the show. In five years’ time, I would love to be in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, with chickens, my own mini- allotment and a greenhouse. Will I still be doing First Time Mum? Definitely. But we might have to change the name – Tenth Time Mum!”
WATCH: Ferne McCann spills the tea on Lorri Haines | My First Times
This article was first published on 20 September 2022 and updated on 6 March 2023.