‘Emmerdale’ actress Lucy Pargeter revealed she hid her first IVF attempt from her bosses at ITV.
The 39-year-old, who is currently pregnant with twins with her partner Rudi Coleano, said she was worried how the news would affect her career.
Pargeter, who is already mum to 11-year-old Lola, said on ‘This Morning’ on 2 March: “I was keeping it a secret from work the first time around.
“You don’t want to give them the indication you could be off in nine months so you have to be careful.”
She said there was “no reason” she and her partner were unable to conceive, as her partner’s sperm and her egg reserves were checked and “it was fine”.
“We left it completely up to nature, but then it didn’t take its course and it didn’t happen,” she added.
Pargeter fell pregnant on her second round of IVF. She explained she got 19 eggs fertilised and had five that “got to the optimum point”.
The actress said she’s keen to speak about her experiences to educate other couples who aren’t able to fall pregnant and let them know they’re not alone.
“There’s a massive chunk of education that needs to be given to women about not getting pregnant,” she said.
“It can be an awful lot harder as you get older. I wish people would talk about IVF more.”
Pargeter said she felt Alex Jones’ documentary ‘Fertility and Me’ was a great education tool and something she’d like to do in the future.
‘This Morning’ is on weekdays from 10.30am.