The Steps star lost the weight after years of struggling to get pregnant, but now says that she won't be having a third baby and is ruling out surrogacy
CLAIRE Richards has revealed she's given up on having a third child and has ruled out surrogacy as an option.
In an exclusive chat with The Sun Online ahead of the launch of her first solo album My Wildest Dreams, Claire opened up about her pregnancy struggles and how she's accepted she won't have a third child.
Claire spoke about her decision to give up on having a third child after realising how content she is with the children she has already got - Daisy, 9, and Charlie, 11, with husband Reece Hill.
At The Big London Bake, where she performed a set from her new album, Claire said: "If it had happened at the time, it would have been lovely but we are really happy with what we've got."
Ruling out using a surrogate for a third pregnancy, Claire says: "No, that's it. We're done now."
Claire added: "The moment came and went. We are really lucky.
"Things like going on holiday - we can get on and off a plane quite easily now and if there were any more [children] then we wouldn't be able to.
"I watch other families with more kids and I think, Oh God, actually....Thank God we didn't."
Claire has been very open in the past about how much she wanted a third baby. In 2015, she said she’d been trying to conceive for two years.
“I guess maybe I feel I don’t deserve to be third time lucky. IVF just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do to my body.
“And even though I have always wanted three children, and my children want a brother or sister, I now have left it to nature.
“We are not going to stop hoping, but we are not trying as intensely as we were. I am a strong believer that if it’s meant to be, fate can always find a way.”
In 2013, Claire had reached 16 stone and size 20 and her doctor told her to lose weight if she wanted to have a third baby.
So the 5ft 6in tall star slimmed down to 9 and a half stone – a size 10 – in two years by controlling her portions.
But she still didn’t get pregnant, and she was horrified when her doctor told her that her years of yoyo dieting could have affected her chances.
"I was annoyed at myself and then upset and horrified I might have caused the problem," she told The Mirror.
Now, she says she's happy with her body: "I'm finally in a good place where I know who I am.
"I knew what I didn't want to do anymore.
"It's hard work. I just take each day as it comes.
"It's not something that will ever not be there.
"I think age, and wisdom and having kids ... just finally knowing for sure what I don't want anymore.
"I've re-educated myself, if you like.
"And it seems to be working... touch wood. So we are sticking with it.
"I've accepted myself the way I am now. It is what it is."
Speaking about her exciting new album, she said: "The main message trying to put across is 'you're never too old to do anything new.
"This has been a dream of mine for a really long time. I'm 41 now - so it's been 20 years in the making."
Claire Richards releases her debut solo album My Wildest Dreams on 1st February
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