Rebecca Adlington, the former Team GB gold medal-winning swimmer, has said she is “truly heartbroken” after announcing the stillbirth of her daughter.
Adlington, 34, said she went for her 20-week scan this week and medics found her baby had no heartbeat. It comes a year after she lost another baby at 12 weeks. She said that she “gave birth to our angel”, a girl she and her husband Andy Parsons, 31, had called Harper, on Friday evening.
Writing on her Instagram page the former GB athlete, who won two golds at the Beijing games in 2008, said: “I don’t really have the words right now but unfortunately we went for our 20-week scan this week and they found no heartbeat.
“I gave birth to our angel, Harper on Friday at 7pm. We held her, and had time with her. We will forever love her and remember her always.”
She went on to thank the “incredible” staff at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester and her husband for his “selfless support, love and help”. The couple, who married in 2021, share a son, Albie, two. Adlington also has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
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She added: “I don’t have the strength or words right now, and don’t feel ready to share this news. However, I can’t pretend to be OK or fake a smile. I can’t have people ask me how pregnancy is or when I am due as I still look pregnant. We are so truly heartbroken. Our beautiful girl. Rest in peace.”
Her post received messages of support from other GB gold-medal winning athletes, including the swimmer Adam Peaty and former track and field star Jessica Ennis-Hill, who wrote: “Oh Becky I’m sending you and your family so much love. I’m so sorry xxxx.”
Adlington, who also appeared on the 13th season of ITV reality series I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, announced the pregnancy in September with a family photo at Disneyland Paris.
It comes more than a year after Adlington said she had suffered a miscarriage, this time with a child at 12 weeks. Speaking in August to the Daily Mirror, she said: “I keep thinking about the pressure my body has been under to keep this little one, safe and sound and alive. I felt really responsible for the miscarriage, even though it wasn’t my fault. I remember speaking to the doctors and they said there was nothing I could have done to prevent what happened. Because I’d had two children without any problems, a miscarriage never crossed my mind.
“I realise this might sound naive, but I expected some signs. However, it was only once we had the 12-week scan that the poor lady had to say, ‘There isn’t a heartbeat.’ It was just sheer emotion from that point onwards.”
