Just days after she asked partner Charles Drury to leave their home following claims he’d cheated, Lauren Goodger left followers gobsmacked by revealing she’s pregnant with their second child.
New mum Lauren – who already shares six-month-old daughter Larose with Charles – is expecting another baby girl with her builder ex. Her happy announcement came after reports thatCharles, 24, had slept with Instagram model Amy Gilbert when he and Lauren were on a break in November – despite him already knowing that the 35-year-old former TOWIE star was pregnant with their second baby.
In an interview, Lauren said she was excited about adding to her family, though admitted, “It’s a rocky time”.
And following reports that she won’t give her cheating ex another chance, insiders tell Closer that she still hasn’t given up on her dream of finding love and settling down.
A source says, “It’s all over with Charles. He’s moved his stuff out and Lauren is feeling really strong. She’s admitted she did a lot of parenting to Larose on her own anyway, and so focusing on that is keeping her strong.
“She’s resolute that she won’t get back with Charles. It really hurts, because her dream of a happy family set-up has been dashed. But she’s coming around to the idea that this doesn’t mean she’ll be a single mum forever. She’s a hopeless romantic and hasn’t given up on her dream of finding real love.”
Having appeared on Celebs Go Dating in 2018, Lauren told Closer at the time that her goals in life were to meet her Mr Right and to start a family. She said, “Settling down and getting married is the aim of life, right? I do want all that. I want a family and I want to meet the right man for me.”
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And despite her recent dramas, Lauren hasn’t let go of that dream. The source says, “Her main focus right now is obviously Larose and her pregnancy, but she’s still hopeful she’ll get her tight and loving family unit again one day. She’s said that it’s the modern world we’re living in now, blended families are the norm. She’s said she’s keen to get back on the dating scene again after her little girl is born and insists she’ll never give up on finding love with her Mr Right.”
It’s not the first time that unlucky-in-love Lauren has suffered heartache. Viewers watched her turbulent relationship with her then-boyfriend of 10 years, Mark Wright, play out on TOWIE
in 2011, and have followed her subsequent relationships over the years, which include failed romances with Jake McLean and ex-jailbird Joey Morrison.
And psychological therapist Emma Kenny, who interviewed Lauren for Closer’s “On the Couch” therapy feature in 2013, says it’s important that she does not give Charles a second chance.
CHECK OUT the cutest TOWIE babies
TOWIE babies slider
1 of 20Amy Childs
The first of the really big names to come from TOWIE, Amy quit the show in 2011 and welcomed her first daughter, Polly, in 2017. She also has a son from a different relationship who she's kept out of the limelight, but accidentally revealed his name was Ritchie in an interview.
2 of 20Georgina Cleverly
Georgina Cleverley – née Dorset – was only on the show for two series and went on to have a two sons with her footballer hubby Tom, who she keeps off social media.
3 of 20Sam Faiers
Sam is mum to daughter Rosie and a son called Paul, who she named after her husband, also called Paul. "We always wanted him to be named Paul after his dad," she said."It's traditional and we didn't have any other names on the list, so he's Paul, and his middle name is Tony after Paul's brother, his Uncle Tony."She's made a household name for herself and her family with her hit reality show, The Mummy Diaries.
4 of 20Billy Faiers
Sam's lookalike big sister Billie is also a mum to two kids of her own, sharing daughter Nelly (five) and son Arthur (three) with her husband Greg Shepherd.
5 of 20Kirk Norcross
Despite being TOWIE's original bad boy, Kirk has overhauled his image in the last few years to be the ultimate family man. He's dad to son Harry, three, and daughter Violett, four - although Violett doesn't feature on his Instagram after her mum made it clear she didn't want her in the public eye.
6 of 20Maria Fowler
Maria is mum to four-year-old Evie who she shares with husband Kelvin Batey, and earlier this year revealed on Instagram that they were preparing to welcome baby number two.Back in 2018, Maria revealed she had suffered a miscarriage, writing on Instagram, "I feel silly even referring to it as a baby as we were really early in the pregnancy and had not yet had a scan but I did grieve and I did feel like I had lost something very special."I feel it is such a cruel twist of fate to get such happy news and then have it taken away. Just like that. No explanation."
7 of 20Chloe Sims
Chloe was already a mum when she joined the cast of TOWIE back in 2011. Her daughter Madison is now 15, and largely stays out of the public eye, although last year Chloe finally revealed Madison's dad was still a close pal, posting a picture to Instagram and writing, "So lots of people have always been interested in who is Maddie's dad, well, here he is..."I was 18, he was 24... all you nosy f--ckers who wanted to know, here he is!"
8 of 20Dan Osborne
TOWIE lothario Dan Osborne already had a son, Teddy, with ex Megan Tomlin when he joined TOWIE. After he was booted in 2015, Dan married EastEnders star Jaqueline Jossa and they have two daughters together, Mia and Ella.
9 of 20Lucy Mecklenburgh
Lucy Mecklenburgh quit TOWIE all the way back in 2013 and since then has had success as an influencer and fitness guru. In 2020 she welcomed her first child with her fiancé, Corrie actor Ryan Thomas, a son they named Roman.
10 of 20Lydia Bright
How cute is this? Long-term best pals Lucy and Lydia were both pregnant at the same time and gave birth just weeks apart. Lydia is going it alone as a single mother to baby Loretta, after splitting with Loretta's dad Lee Cronin during her pregnancy.
11 of 20Ferne McCann
One of TOWIE's most high profile mums, Ferne McCann welcomed her daughter Sunday in 2017following a difficult few months. Shortly before announcing her pregnancy Ferne's boyfriend Arthur Collins was arrested and charged with an acid attack in an East London club that left two victims blind. And weeks before Sunday was born he was sentenced to 20 years.
12 of 20Mario Falcone
TOWIE OG Mario left the show after 15 series, and in 2018 welcomed a son, Parker Jax,with his fiancée Becky Meisner.
13 of 20Chloe Lewis
Chloe quit the show in 2019 after revealing she'd found herself a new relationship and it wasn't long before she and new man Danny Flasher announced they were expecting. They welcomed a healthy baby boy, Beau Lewis, in October 2019.
14 of 20Jake Hall
Meanwhile, Chloe's TOWIE boyfriend Jake Hall went on to have a family of his own. Despite an at times messy relationshipwith Real Housewives of Cheshire's Misse Beqiri, the couple welcomed a daughter in 2018, who they named River.
15 of 20Billi Mucklow
Billi Mucklow, who left TOWIE in 2013, must certainly have her hands full with her huge blended family with footballer fiancé Andy Carroll. The couple are raising Andy's kids from a previous relationship, Lucas and Emilie, and have two of their own together, Arlo and Wolf. In early 2020 they announced they were expecting AGAIN. Phew.
16 of 20Danielle Armstrong
Danielle Armstrong welcomed her first child with long-term pal Tom Edney in May 2020 after being "pregnant forever" and begging fans for tips on inducing labour. She took to Instagram to update followers on the birth, writing, "My world Is complete ud83dudc76ud83cudffcud83dudc95 Orla Mae Edney Born May 26th at 16:30pm, weighing a healthy 8Ibs11".
17 of 20Lauren Pope
Lauren quit TOWIE in 2019 after a staggering nine years on the show. In July 2020, she and her boyfriend welcome a little girl called Raine Anais Keterman.
18 of 20Sam Mucklow and Shelby Tribble
After a whopping three-day labour, Sam and Shelby welcomed their first child, a boy, in November 2020. "Shelby and our beautiful baby boy are both well and healthy," he wrote on Instagram. "Shelby didn't have a straightforward labour so she has been in hospital for five days. She has been an absolute soldier."
19 of 20Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet
TOWIE's power couple Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet welcomed their baby boy Brody on 5th May, 2021. They even reveal that "Mallet" is not actually Tommy's surname, when they introduced baby as Brody Fordham.
20 of 20Lauren Goodger
After years of dreaming of being a mum, Lauren finally welcomed her first child, a daughter called Larose, In July 2021. Sadly when Larose was just a couple of months old, Lauren split from the baby's dad Charles Drury, but is smashing being a single mum.
Addressing the abandonment issues Lauren had spoken about in their session – revealing how her mum sent her to live with her dad when she was four, though kept her brother and sister – Emma says, “It means she craves the attachment she didn’t receive in childhood. Often that will take the form in adult relationships of really needing to be with another human being, even when he’s not good for you because you just fear what it’s like to be alone, and it means you may put up with relationships when you deserve better. That seems to be Lauren’s experience, which is that she never leaves a relationship until it’s completely in pieces.
“Charles is young, and two babies in a very short period of time is incredibly challenging anyway – both physically, emotionally and psychologically – and the fact that she’s on her own now is going to be something that gives her extra stress. That said, at least she won’t be dealing with the horrible to-ing and fro-ing of a relationship that isn’t working.”
While Emma says she thinks Lauren is “desperate to make her family work” and that the star will “put her family ideals above her personal needs”, she continues, “I don’t think she should give Charles another chance at all. She should absolutely concentrate on her children because there she has power and she can make an impact, and she can prevent them from growing up and feeling abandoned. She must not repeat the cycle.
“I would also say people like this probably need a bit of therapy. Speak to Relate, work through that stuff because you will just keep doing it. Being single is not a bad thing – it is empowering, you get to know yourself, you get to feel safer in who you are. You don’t take rubbish from other people after that because you know you can be on your own. And it means when you do come to a new relationship, you’re actually in a good space.”
Read more in this week's Closer magazine, out now