
Samantha Barks welcomes a daughter
Samantha Barks has welcomed her second child with her husband Alex Stoll.
The Les Miserables star, 34, took to Instagram on Sunday (22.06.25) to confirm the she's has given birth to a daughter named felicity, who joins the couple's son Raphael, who was born in 2023.
Sharing a picture of herself cuddling her new baby on Instagram, Samantha wrote: "Hello Felicity."
Samantha went public with her pregnancy news back in May during an interview with the BBC as she prepared for the VE Day 80th Anniversary concert in London.
She said: "The dress is being steamed, the hair and make-up is ready ... [I'm] nearly nine months pregnant so it's going to be me and baby performing for royalty tonight so it's her first adventure."
Samantha and Alex married in Tuscany, Italy, in June 2022 and the actress previously admitted she felt "drunk in love" on her big day.
She gushed to Britain's OK! magazine: "It was everything we could ever hope for, and so much more. You plan every intricate detail of a wedding and hope it all happens the way it's supposed to, and it did.
"There was nothing I would change from the day, it all went perfectly and smoothly, but what you can't prepare yourself for is everyone you love being there and celebrating with you, and the atmosphere of that. It took us by surprise ...
Samantha - who has been playing Elsa in the West End production of Frozen: The Musical, added of her wedding dress: "I felt very much like me in the dress, which is great. I spend my life being other people and other characters so, on my wedding day, I wanted to feel: 'That's so me'."
The happy couple went on to welcome their son Rafael Richard Barks-Stoll in October, 2023 and Samantha shared the happy news on Instagram alongside a black and white picture of her newborn's hand.
She wrote: "Welcome Rafael Richard Barks-Stoll, born on 16th October. My heart could burst with happiness."
It's been a huge year so far for Samantha as she was recently seen in the UK version of The Masked Singer, which she won in January.
Speaking after her TV triumph, the singer gushed: "You know what this has been the most fun experience.
"I've loved this whole secret spy life and I can't believe it's over and I can't believe I won?"
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Glastonbury headliner Loyle Carner to read CBeebies Bedtime Story ahead of set
Glastonbury headliner Loyle Carner will read a CBeebies Bedtime Story on Monday evening (23.06.25). The 30-year-old poetic hip-hop star is due to top the bill on The Other Stage at Worthy Farm on Friday (27.06.25), as part of a Glasto special edition of the nightly programme on the BBC's CBeebies channel where a different celebrity reads a children's picture book just before bedtime, and Carner has chosen I Touched the Sun by Leah Hayes. He said: 'Let's go! I've practised for this every night in my son's room. 'Reading a CBeebies Bedtime Story is just a magical thing to do. I know this story inside out - it's my favourite book, and my son's and my daughter's. We read it almost every night.' Loyle's Bedtime Story airs at 6.50pm on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer, kicking off a special week of CBeebies Bedtime Stories recorded at Glastonbury Festival. From last year, The Last Dinner Party's Abigail Morris will read on Tuesday (24.06.25), Sampha's episode drops on Wednesday (25.06.25), and The Streets' Mike Skinner on Thursday (26.06.25). Starting Friday (27.06.26), there are brand new stories from Worthy Farm, with surprise celebrity readers to be revealed on CBeebies' social media channels. Carner's Glasto set comes a week after he released his latest LP, hopefully !. A press release notes of the LP: "A life-affirming exploration of fatherhood, childhood and alternative music, the album is buoyed by a positivity and lightness of touch achieved in large part by stepping out of your comfort zone. In a series of firsts - singing, producing, accidentally forming the band of his dreams - Loyle Carner cultivates healthier boundaries, whilst also allowing his audience in (the album's moving artwork features his muse of a son, who can also be heard throughout the record)." Carner is also set to play a four-night residency at London's O2 Academy Brixton in November as part of this UK dates.


7NEWS
2 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Beauty and the Geek star denies false rumours about alleged murder case
Former Beauty and the Geek winner Kiera Johnstone has been forced to publicly deny rumours wrongly linking her to a grisly alleged murder. An ex-castmate of the reality program, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of killing her partner after a man's body was found inside a property in Port Lincoln, South Australia following a fire on Thursday. The accused was taken into custody at the scene but a court order has been placed over her identity and details of the case. Johnstone said the rumour mill had gone into overdrive and took to social media at the weekend to declare she had not been arrested last week and was 'not involved in any way' to the alleged crime. 'There has been speculation online suggesting that I am involved,' she shared on Instagram. 'Let me be absolutely clear: I have never been charged with a crime. 'The allegations being discussed have nothing to do with me, and the fact that I even need to say this is incredibly upsetting.' Johnstone — who won the 2021 series of Beauty and the Geek alongside her match Lachlan Mansell — said the online speculation was being fuelled by people 'sharing, gossiping, or silently watching', and asked for it to 'please stop' given it is 'a serious situation'. 'It's deeply disturbing to see people spreading false information, making assumptions and sharing screenshots,' the Melbourne jewellery boutique owner said. 'This kind of speculation is damaging and invasive and is something I take very seriously.' Police and forensics spent significant time at the Port Lincoln property after a man's body was discovered on Thursday afternoon. The accused — who also appeared on Beauty and the Geek, a program where socially awkward men share a mansion with attractive women — was arrested at the scene and taken to a local hospital, where she was charged with murder. 'I don't have any advice in relation to how long the man has been deceased. That will form part of our investigation,' SA Police State Operations Service Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said on Friday. 'I'm not going to comment on the injuries of the deceased.' The accused faced court on Friday via phone link and has been remanded in custody. She will appear in court again at a later date. Stream free on


Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
Lizzo and SZA hit the studio to work on new music
Lizzo and SZA have new music in the works. The pals - who previously teamed up on a remix of Lizzo's song Special in 2023 - have been teasing clips from the studio working on something for Lizzo's upcoming "mixtape". SZA captioned one post on her Instagram Story: "Working on a guest star for bookie Lizzo's new mixtape [heart emoji]." In a 2023 interview with UPROXX, SZA said of their friendship: 'Me and Lizzo, we've been friends since, like, 2013, but it was very organic and very random. One day we were on the same tour, and I was like, 'We're about to drive out to Lake Michigan, do you want to come?' And she was like, 'Yeah, let's go.' And then we just got drunk and hung out, and we kept doing that, and then our lives and careers progressed, and we kept talking and hanging out. The other day, I went over to her house. My tummy was hurting because I ate too much, and she gave me a muumuu, and we just laid in the yard and did nothing, and I was like, 'Yeah, this is what the f*** friendship is about.'' In March, Lizzo confirmed she had completed work on her new album Love in Real Life. The delighted star took to Instagram to tell fans about her productive day, after she "finished" her forthcoming fifth studio album. She wrote: "ALBUM IS DONE YALL! ASTROLOGY EXPERTS Do my mercury got micro braids? Cus I got an emergency root canal, announced SNL finished my album all in one day today (sic)" Meanwhile, Lizzo recently expressed her fury over criticism of her new music - insisting negative reviews of her song Still Bad, which was her first single from Love in Real Life, are "lazy". Lizzo wrote on X: "Saying my brand of 'poptimism' doesn't work in a 'post Covid world' is a lazy take ... As if I didn't release 'about damn time' post pandemic ... "As if I didn't write [her song] 'About Damn Time' to be a post lockdown anthem to inspire us to get outside and together again. And was successful at it btw ... "Same people saying my music is 'too optimistic' would've been real mad in the 60s at James Brown and Motown ... "Still Bad is a break-up song with the world. It literally starts with me saying: 'I'm bouta throw my phone away' it's a call to action for the negativity we experience on our phones and how we need to disengage and recenter. The girls that get it, get it ... "In the music video I'm literally taking my power back from the 'birds' (tweets) that tried to keep me down with negativity … "I think seeing and hearing a black woman make real music with radical joy triggers miserable people … but I follow in the footsteps of Janet [Jackson], of Funkadelic, of Earth Wind and Fire … nobody's doing it like me for Us. And I stand on that." She went on: "Imagine listening to 'say it loud I'm black and I'm proud' and saying it's too optimistic ... Imagine listening to [OutKast song] 'Hey Yah' and saying it's too poppy… what Andre [Andre 3000] say? Yall don't wanna listen ya just wanna hate ... "Aretha [Franklin] and Whitney [Houston] got backlash for being 'too pop' and they kept going… and so will I ... "I'm out here reclaiming rock n roll for US … (sic)"