Note: The following article contains discussion of ectopic pregnancy.
Strictly Come Dancing star Stacey Dooley has opened up about her ectopic pregnancy. Joining host Amy Jackson on her podcast, What's The Tea, Amy?, the presenter revealed that in 2024, she was forced to undergo "immediate surgery" at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
Noting that she and her long-time partner, professional dancer Kevin Clifton, had fallen pregnant last year, Dooley said: "It didn't go brilliantly".
"I couldn't talk about it for such a long time without bursting into floods of tears. But now I can," she told Jackson. It was ectopic, and it was all dramatic."
Explaining that she was taken to Liverpool Women's Hospital with an internal bleed, Dooley, who was required to have surgery, praised the "amazing" staff who cared for her, including one woman who checked in and brought her food from the shops after her own shift had ended.
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Visibly emotional as she reflected on the experience, Dooley noted that she was forced to cancel various engagements during her recovery.
Dooley, who shares her three-year-old daughter, Minnie, with Clifton, has spoken about her ectopic pregnancy in previous interviews. On her TV show, Stacey Sleeps Over, the Strictly star shared her experience with Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, Britain's first legally recognised gay father.
"We obviously wanted to expand our family, and last year I fell pregnant, and it didn't go brilliantly," Dooley said in the episode, which aired last year.
As she became tearful, the presenter told Drewitt-Barlow, "I am so sorry because this is so predictable. I am sat here crying on a bed. It was ectopic, and it was really f***ing difficult."
"Of course, when you go through something like that, you are forced to think of alternatives. S**t happens, and if you want a bigger family, you have to think how you're going to do that," Dooley reflected.
According to the NHS, "around 1 in every 90 pregnancies is ectopic," which equates to 11,000 pregnancies a year. An ectopic pregnancy typically occurs when a fertilised egg "implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes", preventing it from developing into a baby and putting the mother's health at risk.
If you've been affected by the issues raised in this story, organisations including The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust and the Ectopic Pregnancy Foundation can offer help and support.
