Pregnant Love Island star Olivia Bowen broke down ITV’s this Tuesday as she discussed her recent baby heartache before joyfully revealing that she’s expecting a baby girl. The announcement follows shortly after Olivia shared the devastating news that she and her husband Alex, whom she met on the popular dating show in 2016, had lost one of their expected twins.
The couple, who are already parents to two-year-old Abel, had delighted fans last month with a charming video announcing their twin pregnancy. However, tragedy struck when Olivia disclosed the loss of one of the twins, expressing that while having “one safe, healthy baby” brought her “happiness and joy”, she also experienced “excruciating pain and trauma” due to the loss.
On Loose Women, host offered comfort to Olivia as she broke down, but the mood lifted when the couple, alongside Abel, shared a gender reveal video, confirming they’re expecting a girl. Studio applause followed the touching clip, celebrating the couple’s news.
Before unveiling the baby’s gender, Olivia and Alex recounted the moment they discovered they were expecting twins during an early six-week scan.
Olivia opened up about the initial joy only to face heartbreak later. She confessed: “I’m quite an anxious person anyway so I was like I’m going for a scan and you were all for it,” acknowledging the presence of twins in her family, reports .
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Olivia Bowen breaks down speaking about the baby she lost (Image: ITV)
Recounting the initial shock, she said: “I went into the room and as soon as I sat down I could see two babies and not just one and we were floored by that.”
She shared her concerns about the twin pregnancy, saying: “As soon as we found out it was twins I was already quite nervous because we’ve not had a great history of twins in our family but you were so positive weren’t you?” turning to Alex, who expressed his excitement about becoming a father to twins. The couple spent two weeks planning for their expanded family, looking at baby car seats and bedroom plans.
The couple want to take away the stigma of talking about miscarriage (Image: ITV)
However, tragedy struck at the eight-week scan. Olivia tearfully revealed: “We went back at eight weeks and something happened called vanishing syndrome,” explaining that one of the twins did not have a heartbeat.
Olivia said: “I’d had no symptoms, I’d had no pain, no bleeding, absolutely nothing to tell me that that was what we were walking into and I guess from that moment we were completely floored. We were expecting to have these two little babies. Vanishing twin syndrome – it can as it just says literally vanish. The one beautiful part of it that I try to hold on to is that they do absorb into your body, those cells become a part of you and that’s what I’ve sort of been holding on to.”
Olivia and Alex with son Abel (Image: ITV)
Despite the sorrow, the scan also brought joy as Olivia mentioned it was a “bittersweet rollercoaster of emotions” with the news that their other baby was healthy, and she expressed their excitement to meet their baby girl.
The couple is determined to bring attention to the issue of miscarriage, aiming to ensure that others facing similar heartache feel empowered to share their experiences and not suffer in isolation. They believe that open dialogue can ease the pain, as Olivia explained: “It’s becoming easier by speaking about it with other women and that’s what we wanted to do and especially Alex being a dad as I haven’t seen many men talking about it – we just want to change that perception of not being able to talk about miscarriage openly.”
Loose Women is on ITV1 weekdays at 12.30pm and on ITVX