Emma Willis 'probably' had PTSD after birth of first baby

25 July 2019

Emma Willis "probably" had PTSD after the birth of her her first baby because the labour was so traumatic.

Emma Willis

The 43-year-old TV presenter's 10-year-old daughter Isabelle became stuck during the labour and her heartbeat dropped, resulting in a rotational forceps delivery having to be carried out which left Emma with injuries that took to heal.

In an interview with The Times newspaper, she shared: "There was a lot of trauma afterwards. A lot of stitches. I couldn't sit down for 12 weeks."

Emma suffered a flashback to her own difficult delivery when she was filming scenes for her W television series 'Emma Willis: Delivering Babies' at the Princess Alexandra NHS hospital in Essex, England.

After witnessing a woman having a vaginal tear repaired it made her faint and she was urged by the maternity ward team to talk about her own frightening labour.

'The Voice' host said: "It was very much like looking at yourself, and my body's response was just total horror and I just hit the floor.

"It hadn't been great but I went, 'There are worse situations that could have happened.' "

When put to her that she could have had PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), Emma replied: "It probably was. But my default for PTSD goes to soldiers. Birth is such a common thing you don't think about it in those terms."

Emma has two other children, Ace, seven, and Trixie, three, with her husband, Busted musician Matt Willis, and she opted to deliver both of them via caesarean section due to her first birthing experience.

She said: "I know a lot of judgement gets thrown around whenever you have babies. I always think my C-section experiences were much more straightforward and easier than my vaginal birth, but in hindsight you go, 'You've just had major abdominal surgery twice and even though you feel great and everything looks alright, you don't know what's going on inside you, what scar tissue is stuck to something else.'

"After my last birth I did slightly think maybe I should have faced that fear and tried to conquer it. But my children are all here safely and you have to do whatever's right for you at the time."