Nicola Adams has announced that she and her partner Ella Baig are expecting their first child.
The Olympic boxer announced the news on Thursday afternoon, sharing a scan photo on social media.
“We’re so excited to announce that our family is expanding,” the gold medallist told fans. “After what feels like a lifetime, we can finally say we’re going to be parents!
“We’re so excited to share this magical journey with you all, the ups, the downs [and] everything in between. Welcome to the world, little one.”
In a piece published on Vogue’s website coinciding with the announcement, Nicola shared that she and Ella began their fertility journey in 2019.
“We had a lot of appointments and did a lot of tests before the actual process started,” she explained.
“We decided that Ella would carry the baby, that we’d use my egg, and find a sperm donor that resembled Ella.”
She also disclosed that after their first attempt, Ella suffered a miscarriage, writing: “We had two failed attempts in total. I was really upset. Of course, we knew that there was a chance of it being unsuccessful, but it’s hard to see those two lines on a pregnancy test and feel elated before having that ripped from you just a few weeks later.
“I was also more upset for Ella as she was the one going through the process physically. You don’t really know what to say or do – you just have to be supportive.
“Then, a few months ago, we found out that Ella was pregnant again. She’s now in her second trimester. I’m so happy, but it’s also been emotional. We were worried about getting too excited because we’d miscarried before, but I think it’s really important that we try to enjoy it rather than dwelling on what could go wrong.”
Nicola and Ella began dating in 2018, after meeting on a night out in the Olympian’s hometown of Leeds.
In addition to her illustrious boxing career, Nicola made TV history in 2020 when she became the first celebrity to compete in Strictly Come Dancing as part of a same-sex pairing.
Unfortunately, she and Katya Jones had their Strictly journey cut short when the professional dancer tested positive for Covid.