Arthur Gourounlian says ‘vile’ abuse aimed at him and Brian Dowling is homophobia as they await second baby

The pair, who tied the knot in 2015, welcomed their first child - a baby girl named Blake - in September 2022.

Brian’s sister Aoife acted as surrogate for the couple at the time and is once again carrying their second child, who is due to arrive into the world on July 4.

Speaking on Ireland AM this week, Arthur revealed that they decided to keep quiet about the pregnancy for as long as possible to avoid “backlash” from trolls after receiving dozens of hate-filled comments before Blake was born.

“It’s homophobia, I’m not going to lie. That we’re not allowed, two men, having a kid,” the Dancing With the Stars judge said.

“People saying it’s wrong, why should we do surrogacy, it’s incest - educate yourself to understand what’s happening.

“It’s nothing to do with Aoife — she’s helping us.

“She’s not doing it for fame, for money. She’s doing it for her brother and brother-in-law, to help us. People know it’s her but at least she enjoys life, you know? There’s no need for [the hate].”

The Armenian insisted he was “strong-minded” but said reading “vile comments” isn’t nice.

“Those bad comments don’t affect me. These people are not in my life. These people are not my friends,” Arthur told hosts Muireann O’Connell and Tommy Bowe.

“I’ve said to Brian, ‘If we can’t handle it give up everything. Stop presenting, stop writing, stop posting. If I don’t want to listen or hear those comments, stop doing it’.”

He added that most of the hate comes from accounts that were “created to attack” them.

Speaking about Aoife offering to act as surrogate again, Arthur admitted he “never expected” her to help them again.

“She always knew we wanted siblings for Blake but for the second time… we cried. We were like, ‘No, you’re lying. You’re lying. This is not right. It’s not going to happen’.

“She said, ‘No, no. I want to help you, but we have to do it now’,” he said.

Brian revealed their second child’s due date when accepting a gong for Ireland’s Most Stylish Man at this year’s Platinum VIP Style Awards, gushing: “Arthur and I are technically pregnant with our second child, so I’m going to dedicate this award to our second child who’s due on Independence Day, July 4th!”

Speaking about expanding their family, Brian admitted that his sister Aoife kept her pregnancy private as she got a “bit of a hard time” from online trolls before.

“We obviously went through a lot of it the last time, as in the negativity and the trolling, so this time Aoife made a conscious decision herself not to be so obvious on Instagram because she got a bit of a hard time and we got a bit of a hard time,” he explained.

“So, this time Aoife said to us, ‘listen, I’d rather if I just stepped back a little bit,’ and we obviously have to respect that. She’s doing great, just really tired. She’s not been sick, which is amazing.

“The bump is so different. The pregnancy is so different. Blake moved around so much but this baby is a little shyer.”