Liz McClarnon shares baby joy at 44 after 'dark times' on IVF journey

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Liz McClarnon-Cho couldn't be more grateful to be expecting her first baby at 44 – but she's also the first to admit she's somewhat 'petrified' of what's to come. The Liverpool-born singer, who lives in London, tells how she's 'loving life' as a mum-to-be, but also explains why her IVF journey pushed her to her limits.
The Atomic Kitten star announced the happy news on her social media earlier this month, and as she opens up about her fertility treatment, miscarriages, and her 'rock' of a husband, she reveals she's been stunned at the reaction to her news. 'I really didn't expect people to be interested,' she laughs. 'I just thought I should probably put it out there before someone else mentioned it. I'm still at that 'is it a baby bump or is it just a big tummy?' stage I think, but it was only a matter of time."
'I wore a Baby On Board badge on the Tube the other day because I didn't want to be knocked, and I noticed someone really look at me... So I decided to just let people know what was happening, then I think it'd been seen by half a million people within a few hours. I'm just here living my fabulous little life, I didn't think people would care. But I think IVF is something that a lot of people can relate to – maybe more than we realise.'
Meanwhile, Liz and her doctor husband, Peter Cho, are well into the second trimester and now that the pregnancy sickness has worn off, she's determined to not dwell on the past.
That said, she's decided to share her own experiences, the good and bad, in the hope it adds something to the IVF conversation in general. It's also a rare opportunity for Liz, with some gentle cajoling, to tell the world a little more about Peter, who she says has been nothing short of 'brilliant' since they first met online during the Covid pandemic.
The couple first connected on dating app Hinge, mid-2021 lockdown – shortly after she was 'kicked off Bumble for impersonating a famous person'. 'Me!' she giggles.
After a month of messages and FaceTimes they were finally allowed to meet in person in July 2021, and within another four months, Liz had moved down to London from Liverpool to move in with Peter. Fast forward another four months, and Peter surprised Liz with a shock proposal by the Pulteney Bridge in Bath, complete with fairy lights and gorgeously sparkling ring.
'I'd actually taken him away for his birthday, then he started leading me down some steps... it was really dark so I had no clue what was going on. Then I saw all the fairy lights and he asked me to marry him!'
While she's had a number of high-profile relationships, Liz doesn't actually adopt a 'thank God I didn't settle before' attitude because, she says, that feels like 'peeing on someone else's chips, and I wouldn't do that'.
She adds, 'I'm just really grateful for what we found, and I genuinely hate the cheesiness of it, but I just knew it was right. On the outside we seem so different, but we're actually the same.'
Their IVF journey started quite early in their relationship because, Liz explains, they both knew they wanted children and were aware that her being 40 could delay the natural process. In 2022, the couple had three failed embryo transfers, which hit Liz hard.
'The first time we did it, I thought, 'This will be it,'' she recalls. 'But by my third cycle, it was obviously very different. When that one didn't work, I was really quite sick and I was in a dark hole.
'I'd put on so much weight but I didn't want to tell anyone why, because I didn't want the IVF to become my identity, my whole personality. I was still doing shows and I'd see the comments online talking about me.
"I remember one said, 'She's getting really thick,' and others were like, 'She's unrecognisable.' I tried to remember that those people didn't know what was happening, but it was hard. I just felt broken after the third time, so we took a break before the wedding.'
Liz explains that it was a conscious decision to be honest in her pregnancy announcement on Instagram about her 'dark times' and 'loss after so much hope'. 'The whole process made me truly appreciate that having a baby is a miracle,' she says. 'There are so, so many things that need to happen correctly for someone to get pregnant, and for that to result in a healthy baby.
'If you fall pregnant naturally maybe you're not as aware, but at times we would be waiting every single day for the phone call to say how many eggs had been retrieved, or how many embryos they had, or if the embryos were healthy, or growing, or to tell us if I was pregnant. Then when it doesn't work, you're just in shock.'
Towards the end of last year, the couple suffered two heartbreaking miscarriages following their first successful cycles.
'I said I was 'done' after the last one, and Peter was absolutely on board with that, he didn't say anything other than, 'This is your body and I'll support whatever you decide you want,' which was a huge thing for me. I felt so bad emotionally, it was really tough. But then we spent Christmas at home in my tiny two-bedroom flat, and my mum and dad came down from Liverpool and we all squeezed in. That time actually helped me heal.'
It's definitely the start of a new chapter for Liz, who still performs Kitten songs today, more than 20 years after shooting to fame alongside Kerry Katona, Natasha Hamilton and later, Jenny Frost.
Liz is 'loving life' now that the anxiety that lingered because of her earlier pregnancies has dissipated. The next milestone, she says excitedly, is finding out if it's a boy or a girl. She has no preference, but wants to remove any uncertainty where she can. She's also aware of the potential impact of her age on her pregnancy and labour, and is already taking aspirin as she falls into the 'high risk' category. She is being monitored for pre-eclampsia, and will soon start taking regular blood-thinning injections.
We suggest that once the baby is here, she'll be full of energy. 'Oh God no, my knees already hurt,' she laughs. 'Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful, but I'm also petrified. But you know what? It's happened to women older than me before, and it'll happen again – so we'll just get on with it!'