Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Jools Oliver: My agony in fight for baby No6
Jools Oliver: It was fifth miscarriage
JOOLS Oliver has revealed she had a miscarriage during lockdown – but says she still wants another child before she turns 47 next year.
The childrenswear designer and TV chef husband Jamie Oliver, both 45, are parents to Poppy, 18, Daisy, 17, Petal, 11, Buddy, nine, and River, three, but have been through five failed pregnancies.
She said of wanting another child: “I really do but I’ve just had three miscarriages since then and a recent one three weeks ago and I’m thinking ‘no’. I don’t know. I do want to, but I’ve got to mentally check that it’s a good idea.
“And also physically because I am 45, nearly 46. So it’s a little bit dodgy.”
She told Zoe Hardman on the Made By Mammas podcast that Jamie is “still up for it, kind of, not really”.
She added: “I am very happy and I am pretty full up at the moment as it is.
“But just that little baby, it’s a terrible thing to keep wanting something but you can’t help it. I assume it will stop.”
Jools, on continuing to speak about having miscarriages, said: “It’s weird if you don’t, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Asked how she was coping after losing a pregnancy so recently, she said: “I went to see the doctor the other day and doing all the chit chat and he said: ‘How are you mentally?’
“I thought about it and I went ‘well, this is the fifth one now’. I’m really good
ON RECENT MISCARRIAGE
at going ‘right, I’m pregnant, but it won’t work so I’m just going to carry on’, so I feel OK, I also feel I’m so lucky.
“I just feel like I have got five and shut up, on to the school run.”
She said she did not tell her family about her most recent pregnancy because she did not want them to worry during lockdown.
She said: “My second one was really dangerous for myself – so my family don’t want me to do it again. “They think ‘you don’t need to do it again, you’ve got five, you’ve got healthy children, just be grateful’.
“Telling my mum, well, especially because I couldn’t see her, would have really upset her so I kept that quiet.” Jools paid tribute to Jamie, their kids and their “five little stars in the sky” when the couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last month.
She wrote to Jamie: “I treasure the daily texts you send, you’re romantic and constantly positive funny and a dedicated brilliant dad.”
Jools first spoke about having miscarriages in 2017, saying: “Once you are pregnant again it makes it impossible to enjoy the early stages.”