I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star Oti Mabuse opened up about the “traumatic” birth of her daughter and broke down in tears during a conversation with Reverend Richard Coles.
The birth of her baby – with husband Marius Iepure – was not an easy one as she was born 28 weeks premature and spent six weeks in the NICU.
The 34-year-old described that “traumatic” period as “one of the scariest” times of her life, leaving the couple to be “super protective” of their daughter and delaying any announcement of her arrival until Christmas of last year.
Before entering the Jungle, she reflected on how much she would miss her daughter whilst on the ITV series and said: “Not seeing my daughter is going to be hard”.
During tonight’s episode, Mabuse became emotional when discussing her birth with Coles and explained she was not able to hold her daughter due to her being in an incubator.
She revealed she used her voice to connect with her and explained: “They find comfort in your voice. For two months, every single day we’d sing church music.”
Coles shared his own experience with a premature baby, and revealed: “I remember going once to baptise a little boy, a premature boy, he was born very premature, he was only just alive…”
The reverend was overcome with emotion and struggled to get his words out, leaving Mabuse to comfort him.
He continued: “I just remember he was this tiny little pulse of life, and David [his then-partner] got a pipette of water and we blessed it.
“And we baptised him and he survived and now he’s a healthy young footballer, which is great! But I just felt so… it was such a precious thing.”
Mabuse added: “They are, my daughter was really, really tiny when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, to hear those sounds, to not see your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to constantly look for advice from the doctors.”
Trying not to cry, she shared what she called the worst thing for her, and that “every night, you need to leave them, you need to leave your baby in someone else’s hands.”
Saying that she can’t wait for Coles to meet her, Mabuse asked: “Maybe you can say a prayer over her, I would really love that.”
He admitted: “I’ve already said a prayer for her actually.” With tears in her eyes, she thanked Coles and gave him a big hug.
Viewers of the show were left in awe of how open they both were, with one writing on X: “I am balling my eyes out! Oti and Richard are just so pure!”
“Oti is lovely. Such a beautiful soul,” a second noted before someone else added: “We all love the reverend don’t we? I won’t have a bad word said against that man #imacelebrity.”
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“Oh Oti reliving that emotional time. Thank God her daughter is thriving,” another expressed before a fifth penned: “Oti speaking for all the NICU mummy’s out there.”
A sixth wrote: “Why am I tearing up listening to Oti open up about her daughter being born prematurely & see Reverend Richard connect with her on such a level.” (sic)