She recently revealed she was expecting her first child against all odds, after spending over £150,000 on eight rounds of IVF in her heartbreaking attempt to start a family with her husband, Oliver Mellor.
And as she cradles her baby bump on our exclusive photo shoot, Rhian Sugden tells us she’s “over the moon” to be expecting a boy. She says, “It was always my dream to have a little boy, I don’t know why but I’ve always imagined having a mini football team. Oliver never said what he wanted, but when we found out it was a boy, he had the biggest smile on his face. We’ve already decorated the nursery and chosen a few names – we like Tommy and George so far.”
The 37-year-old glamour model is expecting her first child in May and admits she’s feeling just as good on the outside too. She says, “I feel the best I’ve ever felt during pregnancy. I couldn’t keep my eyes open during my first trimester and then all of a sudden, I had a burst of energy. I’ve never felt more emotionally stable either.
“My thirties have been full of stress trying to fall pregnant, and for the first time I feel present, instead of being full of worry. Some of Oliver’s friends told him their wives were a nightmare during pregnancy, but he says, ‘Rhian’s been great!’ He’s caught me crying sometimes, and I’ve had to reassure him nothing’s wrong, I’m just happy.”
Despite her overwhelming joy, Rhian has been vocal about her gruelling path to motherhood, admitting she developed depression, anxiety and an eating disorder along the way, due to stress. “During treatment, my mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer and on top of everything else it floored me,” she explains.
“I was surviving on half a banana and a piece of chocolate and ended up losing 2½st. People around me kept telling me to eat, but I couldn’t – that was the problem. It was really tough for Oliver because he didn’t quite understand what was going on. My doctor warned me to stop going to the gym as I couldn’t afford to lose any more weight.
“I finally got help and went on antidepressants and had EMDR [eye movement therapy] and talking therapy. I’m still on medication and I’ve accepted I might be on it for life. Doctors said the risk of coming off it might be quite harmful – I’ve got no shame about taking it.”
Just before falling pregnant, Rhian and Oliver had become ready to accept they’d never experience parenthood. “I’d dread Mother’s Day or when friends shared news about their pregnancies because it wasn’t working for me,” she explains. “I became brainwashed. Every time I had my period, I’d be like, ‘Ugh – I’m not pregnant again’, and felt low for the rest of the month.
“After so many IVF attempts, we convinced ourselves it wasn’t going to work. We started to plan a good life without kids, eyeing up a campervan for the two of us, and deciding we’d fly to wherever we want at weekends and even Googled adult-only hotels,” she adds before laughing, “We’ve kissed goodbye to any ‘me time’ now!”
But despite the heartache she’s faced, Rhian admits this pregnancy has given her fresh hope she could fall pregnant again and the pair will try for another baby soon.
“I’m loving pregnancy so much. It feels like a miracle and helped to heal my pain. I’ve said to Oliver, ‘I can’t bear the thought that this is the last time I’m pregnant, we’ve got to go again’. I do want to try for IVF again to have a second baby. I’m not old by any means, but time is ticking is for me, so I’d want to start soon. I’d love to leave a gap but I can’t afford to wait too long.”
Meanwhile the star, who previously admitted her body shape had changed and become “curvier” with IVF, admits she’s not fretting about her body. She says, “I am totally embracing all the changes instead of feeling insecure. My body’s here for a different reason now. I’m not just a piece of meat for men to look at. I’d love to snap back into shape, but I care less about it all now.”
Though Rhian admits there is one area of her body which has taken some getting used to. “My boobs are on another planet now – they’re huge,” she laughs. “My nipples have gone massive. I’ve gone from an E to a G-cup and I think they’ll get bigger. I can’t find a bra or bikini to fit. It depends if I’m fortunate to have another baby, but my boobs will definitely need some attention. When all the milk has gone, they’re just going to deflate so I’ll have an uplift and possibly go smaller.”
But while she’s embracing her growing curves, Rhian, who appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2012, reveals she’s been subjected to online abuse after trolls recently targeted her pregnancy body. She says, “People have been slagging me off for having cellulite, which is so unfair. I shared an image a paparazzi took of me on the beach, and someone wrote, ‘Oh my god, she’s got cellulite’. I wrote back and said, ‘I’m a woman, this is what happens!’ I try not to take offence to comments, but the ones about my body are the ones that stick.”
The star, who found fame as a lingerie model, appearing on The Sun’s Page 3 and in countless lads’ mags, has been open about how sharing images on OnlyFans has helped to fund costly IVF treatments, but has been criticised for continuing to post sexy pictures of herself on social media She says, “My new year’s resolution, as made by Oliver, is to stop reacting to people. When I post racy pictures of myself, trolls will say that I need to grow up, I’m a mum now and that my kids are going to be embarrassed of me. I’m doing nothing different to what I do as a modeI. I get that it’s frowned upon and people have their view, but it’s not like I used to be a solicitor and then drastically changed my career. It’s what I’ve always done, and it’s earned me loads of money.”
She adds, “What’s wrong with showing off with a baby bump? For all I know this might be only one – I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful.”
While she tries to shrug off comments, Rhian admits Oliver’s always on hand to give her a boost. She says, “He says I’ve never looked sexier than with a bump, which is lovely. We’re still very active in the bedroom, but our sex life’s a bit weird! Positions aren’t great at the minute as you’re not allowed to be on your back at all. When Oliver’s caressing me, we’ll suddenly feel the baby kicking about and he has to stop and say, ‘Can you give me a minute?’ He doesn’t like the thought of someone watching us from the inside. We end up stopping and having a laugh about it!”
And the star praises former Corrie star Oliver, who she wed in 2018 in a Turkish seaside ceremony, for being her “rock” throughout the past few years. The star previously admitted she would panic Oliver would leave her in order to have a baby with someone else.
She says, “He always said to me, ‘Nothing will change between us if we can’t have children’, but now I’m pregnant I can see it in his eyes how much he wanted it too. He’s so excited but is quite a worrier, he walks me to the car and tells me to drive safe. He’ll text friends I’m on my way to meet to tell them to take care of me. Even if he hears me coughing upstairs, he’ll fly up there to ask if everything’s all right.”
She adds, “He’s been my rock and is going to be a great dad. We’ve been married five years, but I’ve always said that on my 40th birthday we’re going to Vegas to get married again!”