EastEnders’ Kellie Bright, 45, gives birth to ‘miracle’ third child
EASTENDERS actress Kellie Bright has given birth to her third child with husband Paul Stoker.
The 45-year-old shared the news of her 'miracle' baby today after missing last night's National Television Awards.
She told : "We're thrilled to announce the safe arrival of the latest addition to our family. Mum and baby are doing well."
Kellie has been an EastEnders star since 2013, when she joined Albert Square as landlady of the Queen Vic - Linda Carter.
She's taking maternity leave ahead of having her "miracle" third child through IVF.
Kellie sufffered criticism after falling pregnant at the age of 44 - and hit back saying "nobody would bat an eyelid" if she was a man.
The star, who is already mum to sons Freddy, nine, and Gene, four, went through a "rollercoaster ride" during her IVF journey that was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But some felt she was "too old" to be growing her family.
"First of all, if I was a man having my third child at 44, no one would bat an eyelid," she told .
"Don't forget my husband is much younger than me.
"He's in his thirties, so he's still running around after the kids, which is great. We met when I was 31 and I didn't want to jump straight into having kids."
She explained that she would've "finished having babies at the end of her thirties" if there was a chance to map out her perfect life.
"But who gets to pick their life like that?" she concluded. "We had fertilitty struggles we didn't expect and had to just deal with it."
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Actress Kellie went on to reveal how the couple required IVF treatment after "struggling to get pregnant" with their second child.
The soap star said she was 39 when they tried the treatment for the first time, managing to get "four, good strong embryos", one of which became her son Gene.
Kellie and Paul then had to use the following three embryos trying for their third baby, with their "miracle" third chance working out after "the first two embryos didn't work".
She explained that the pair decided to try for a third child at the end of 2019 but their plans were put on hold by the coronavirus outbreak.
"This baby inside me now was the last one we had," she revealed. "The last chance of pregnancy, because at 44 we were not going through IVF again. It was a rollercoaster.
"I believe it was meant to be. [It was] a real roller-coaster."
