Stacey Dooley has recalled the moment she and her partner Kevin Clifton found out they were having a child, and it’s an experience most parents can relate to.
The couple welcomed their daughter, Minnie, in January 2023. They met on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 and have been together ever since.
Stacey, who has candidly spoken about the challenges of motherhood, has now opened up about the moment she found she was pregnant.
Stacey Dooley’s ‘really happy’ pregnant secret with Kevin Clifton
Stacey recalled her and Kevin’s reaction to finding out she was pregnant on the Dish Podcast.
The couple treated the news as their “really happy” secret, before revealing it to the world a few months later. However, the moment she learned she was expecting a child was “quite chaotic”.
Stacey said she wants her daughter to know the truth about the special moment of her life, which she has detailed in her new book, Dear Minnie: Conversations with Remarkable Mothers.
In a letter to Minnie, she talks about buying a pregnancy test from the chemist and testing herself in a Selfridges washroom.
Stacey said: “Just picked it up because I had five minutes and she, she sort of got it. She was such a sweetheart, this woman, she put a bit of Sellotape over the bag so it wasn’t baggy. You couldn’t see anything.”
She continued: “I went downstairs, and it’s roasting down there. So I’m sitting on this toilet, the lady’s knocking because there’s a big queue. I’m like, you know, mid… mid situation. And it’s kind of, I sort of instinctively knew, it was more like confirmation.”
‘There was nothing glossy about finding out’
Stacey went on to talk about Kevin’s reaction to finding out they were having a child together. Unlike movies and shows that typically glorify the special moment, she shed light on the reality.
I’m FaceTiming Kev, he’s got a radio mic on because he’s doing an interview. So I’m like [quiet]: ‘I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant.’
The Strictly star was working when Stacey called him. She would later share a screenshot of him looking emotional upon hearing the beautiful news.
Recalling the moment, Stacey said: “And then I talk about it in the letter, you know, getting in the back of a black cab and he’s got the hump because I want to go south of the river – and he doesn’t want to go south, he’s kicking off with another cabbie. It’s all of this.”
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She added: “I’m FaceTiming Kev, he’s got a radio mic on because he’s doing an interview. So I’m like [quiet]: ‘I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant.’ ‘Are you happy?”I’m really happy, are you happy?’ You know, so there was nothing glossy about finding out.”
Stacey recently admitted that her perception of life has changed after becoming a mother. She is “desperate to stay alive” now that she’s mum to Minnie.
Read more: Strictly star Stacey Dooley ‘shuts down’ Giovanni Pernice question on BBC Breakfast amid chaos
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