Shayne Ward has revealed he is expecting his second child with fiancee Sophie Austin.
The former X Factor winner and soap star, 37, and his partner are already parents to daughter Willow, five, and are expecting another baby girl after initially turning to IVF and when that failed, conceiving naturally.
Ward told Hello! magazine: “I would always say to Sophie: ‘I know in my gut and in my heart of hearts that we are going to have more children.’
“There was no two ways about it. We never gave up. It’s been a whirlwind.
“And 16 years after I appeared on The X Factor, I have a beautiful family and one on the way.
“I am on cloud nine. It’s amazing that we’re going to have another girl to add to the Ward clan.”
Ward says daughter Willow wants to name the new arrival Aurora, after the Disney princess, adding: “We said to her: ‘What have you always wanted?’ And she said: ‘A baby sister!’
“So we told her that there was one in mummy’s tummy and her face just lit up. She had the biggest smile!”
Austin described the couple’s gruelling experience of IVF, saying: “It was one of the most emotionally draining things we have ever been through.
“And for Shayne, it was quite a hard process because he wasn’t physically going through it but it was just as tough for him.”
However, she said she was buoyed by his positive attitude, continuing: “My mental health was probably on the floor.
“If it hadn’t been for Shayne and Willow… I’ve never felt so depressed and low in my whole life.
“I think it was Shayne’s positivity and belief that kept me going. I would be saying: ‘We need to accept this might not happen,’ and he would refuse.”
The full interview is in Hello!, out now.