Michelle Keegan has announced that she is pregnant.
On Sunday evening, the former Coronation Street star and her husband Mark Wright revealed that they were expecting their first child in a joint Instagram post.
The announcement was made alongside a photo of the Fool Me Once actor and former The Only Way Is Essex cast member posing on a beach, with Michelle cradling her pregnant stomach.
“2025 is going to be a special one for us,” they wrote, adding a baby emoji for good measure.
Michelle and Mark are thought to have begun their relationship in late 2012, eventually tying the knot in May 2015.
Throughout their time in the spotlight, Michelle and Mark have both been open about their hopes to become parents.
Back in 2018, Michelle told Women’s Health: “I’ve always been broody. I love kids, and I want four, so hopefully in the near future.”
In an interview with The Sun a year later, Mark added: “We say we’re going to try [for a baby] every year but something comes up with work.
“So it’ll be Michelle filming in South Africa [for Our Girl] and then I got the job in Los Angeles [presenting for Extra] – so we think, ‘right, we’ll try next year’.”
In more recent history, Michelle has spoken about her frustration at constantly being grilled by journalists about whether she wants to start a family, branding such questions sexist.
Michelle told The Mirror: “It’s horrible. People don’t know if we’re trying. They don’t know the background of what’s happening. In this day and age, you shouldn’t be asking questions like that.
“I’m asked purely because I’m a woman. But I’m immune to it now – it’s like a reaction, and as soon as I hear it I brush it off as it’s no one else’s business.”
“I get asked about children whereas Mark wouldn’t for example,” she told Women’s Health in 2020. ”‘Why haven’t I had a child? When am I going to have a child?’. I don’t know what they want me to say. I don’t know what the right or wrong answer is.”
Asked if her family are as guilty as the press for asking her questions about starting a family, she quipped: “Not any more! People don’t mean any harm by it, but they know what the answer’s going to be.”