HAYLEY MCQUEEN
TV PRESENTER HAYLEY MCQUEEN AND HER FIANCE KIRK NEWMANN TELL ok!’s MICHELLE GARNETT ABOUT THEIR STRUGGLE TO CONCEIVE, AND THEIR HAPPY ENDING
AND HER FIANCÉ KIRK NEWMANN OPEN UP ABOUT THEIR STRUGGLE TO CONCEIVE AND THEIR HAPPY ENDING!
When OK! arrives at the Buckinghamshire home of Sky Sports presenter Hayley Mcqueen, we’re met with such genuine warmth that we want to bottle it up for a rainy day!
Hayley, who shares the Victorian cottage with her fiancé – actor and model Kirk Newmann, 38 – has every reason to be fizzing with joy. Not only is her career going from strength to strength, but she’s expecting her first baby in September!
‘I’m really enjoying being pregnant. I don’t even care about the weight gain. As long as the baby’s healthy,’ she says.
It hasn’t been the smoothest of journeys for the couple, who met on Tinder and are getting married next year in a château in the south of France. Hayley, 39, suffers from endometriosis – a painful condition where tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows outside it – and polycystic ovary syndrome. As the months ticked by with no pregnancy news to report, the inevitable panic set in and Hayley’s stress levels rose. IVF seemed the only option, although Kirk was firmly
against it. ‘For me IVF was always a no-no. I knew it would happen naturally,’ he tells us.
Hayley worked behind the scenes in TV production for three years before becoming a reporter and presenter. Her passion for football was encouraged by her dad Gordon Mcqueen, a Scottish former footballer, who would take her to games as a little girl.
As we settle down for a chat in their shabby chic front room, the pair reveal all about Hayley’s most recent health scare, facing sexism at work and why they’re keeping the sex of their baby a secret…
Congratulations to you both! How are you feeling, Hayley?
Relieved! I’ve just had nausea and tiredness up until now, but last weekend I ended up in hospital with a bad kidney infection.
What happened?
My GP rang to say they’d detected an infection in my recent urine test. I was already in bed with horrendous back pain and a fever but I made it to the doctor, who immediately sent me to hospital. The baby was fine but I was put on an antibiotic drip and had four days off work. I have two kidneys on one side and had my tubes and valves replaced as a baby, so I get urinary infections quite a bit.
You’ve called this your ‘miracle baby’... I’ve had endometriosis since I was quite young. The pain is so severe I’ve bitten through my lips. I sweat from top to bottom, go completely grey, can’t stand up and I’m shaking. Once, at my parents’ house, I passed out on the toilet in the middle of the night and smashed my face. I crawled to their room with blood pouring down my face; they thought I’d been attacked! The next morning my period started and I felt absolutely normal.
When did you start trying for a baby? About three years ago, when we’d been together for a year. After 18 months of trying we got Kirk’s sperm checked, then I went to see a fertility expert and they diagnosed polycystic ovary syndrome. One of my ovaries was engulfed in a cyst which I had removed in October 2017, then we started trying again in February last year. Nothing was happening so I started getting stressed and I wanted to investigate IVF.
Kirk: For me IVF was always a no-no. I knew it would happen naturally.
Did you fear you’d never become a mum, Hayley?
Yes, the cyst left permanent damage on the ovary so I was only ovulating from one side. Kirk: I started to read up on how diet and exercise can help regulate hormone levels. I cut out all sugar and cooked really nutritious food. We reduced meat, started intermittent fasting and went to the gym together.
Did it impact on your relationship? Kirk: Our fights started to build up and the subject of IVF kept cropping up. Hayley couldn’t let go of it. We needed to sort ‘us’ out, be a happy couple again and stop fighting over making babies.
Hayley: I had a whole week off work after Christmas so we chilled out. I’d already done some research into a clinic in Greece offering IVF so I knew we had that to fall back on. Kirk: That’s when the magic happened! I said, there’s a baby in there. I know there is!
How did you discover that you were pregnant?
Hayley: I was about to arrange the trip to the clinic in Greece so I took an ovulation test and I could see the faintest of lines on there. I was shaking. I took three more tests and the last digital test confirmed it. I was gobsmacked!
Were you nervous to announce the news? Hayley: Yes, we waited until 16 weeks. By then people were saying: ‘You’re obviously pregnant.’
Have you found out the baby’s sex? Hayley: Yes, but we’re not telling anyone! That’s the only thing we’ve argued about since I became pregnant. At first, I didn’t want to find out but I couldn’t take the suspense, and we’ve already decided on a Scottish and Turkish name.
Tell us about meeting on Tinder…
It’s so embarrassing! I was only on there for a week. I saw Kirk and thought, wow, he’s too good looking.
Kirk: We went to Zédel’s in London for drinks.
Hayley: From there it was a really natural build up; easy and uncomplicated. I found out he’s a trained chef, too – bingo!
Kirk: Apart from being a beautiful, kind woman, I love that Hayley is very family orientated. I knew she’d be a good mother one day.
Have you set a date for the wedding? Hayley: Yes, it’ll be next July, just after the Euros. I’ve been making as many plans as I can so that when the baby’s here everything will be in place. It’s going to be in south west France in a quaint village. We’ve found a beautiful chateau and we’re going to make a big weekend of it.
The Women’s World Cup is so exciting. Do you think attitudes are finally changing towards women’s football?
Yes. I’d love to have worked on the Women’s World Cup but it wasn’t possible. But it’s nice to know that people can name a few female footballers now and magazines are featuring these women. There’s more money being pumped into the game, so they’re able to spend time training and playing football rather than having to juggle full-time jobs. Female football is only going to get bigger and bigger.
Have you faced much sexism working in the male-dominated area of sports presenting, Hayley?
Definitely, in the beginning. People would think, oh you just have to look good and read an autocue. They don’t realise I’ve worked hard for this and that I’ve watched football ever since I was a little girl. My dad gave me my love, passion and knowledge for sport.
You must have met plenty of footballers throughout your career…
I was quite good friends with Cristiano Ronaldo when I worked at Manchester United and I’ve met David Beckham a lot, too.
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