‘Train has left the station’ as Brian and Arthur expect their second baby
TV STARS Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian are having another baby.
The couple – already doting dads to one-year-old daughter Blake – want to add to the family and, according to Brian, ‘the baby train has departed!’
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘We would love for Blake to be a big sister. This is something we’ve discussed at length, and I’m happy to say we are back on the baby train. Choo choo!’
Arthur, 43, a judge on RTÉ’s Dancing With The Stars, added: ‘Fingers crossed! As Brian said, the baby train is on the way.’
The couple celebrated Blake’s first birthday party in September with a suitably star-studded bash to mark the milestone.
It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for the celebrity couple, who moved back to Ireland after living in LA, and soon after began preparing for Blake’s arrival when Brian’s sister Aoife agreed to act as surrogate.
‘I’m still pinching myself; only one and a half years and our lives have changed,’ said Armenianborn Arthur.
Former Big Brother winner Brian, 45, has also seen his broadcasting career take off in recent months; he’s just been announced as co-host on Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show along with Katja Mia.
Brian also co-presents a radio show on 98FM with Suzanne Kane while fronting a number of documentary style reality shows on both Virgin Media and RTÉ One.
Speaking about the couple’s decision to move home, Brian told the MoS: ‘Arthur and I were in a sense forced to return to Ireland in 2020 during the pandemic. We were living in LA and hoped to continue living in LA but obviously, like a lot of people, the pandemic forced us to move home, and absolutely that was the best decision we could have ever made.’
Despite planning their growing family, the radio and TV presenter insists luck has played a big part in the couple’s good fortune. Brian said: ‘I would like to sit here and tell you everything since then has been planned, but that’s actually not the case.
‘We’ve been very lucky. I think the right time and right place, plus our determination, our drive and our hunger to work and actually be taken seriously really has spurred us on.
‘I can’t believe I’ve got a daily radio show, a daily television show and my husband is a judge on one of the biggest shows here in Ireland.
‘We feel very lucky, very blessed, but also we have such determination and fire in our bellies to keep going.’
Brian and Katja on anchoring Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show