Martine McCutcheon is pregnant.
The 38-year-old actress - who has battled depression - has announced she is three and a half months pregnant with a son, but admits she and husband, Jay McManus, had all but accepted they were never going to have a child together.
She said: "We'd always said that if we were fortunate to be blessed with a child, that would be wonderful, but we were very aware that it's not a given.
"As a woman in her late 30s who's experienced health problems, I thought I might have to accept that it wasn't a path my life was going to take, but it would have been a great sadness in our lives if that had been the case."
As well as battling depression, Martine has suffered further difficulties including being declared bankrupt in January last year, owing £187,000, but the raven-haired beauty believes her life is now fully back on track after discovering she is expecting.
She added to HELLO! magazine: "It's like finally the tides have turned. Great things are starting to happen on the work front, but more than anything, expecting our baby boy has given us clarity about what matters."
The star shot to fame as Tiffany Mitchell in 'EastEnders' in 1995 but she departed the BBC One soap in 1998 after her character was killed in a car crash.
Martine went on to appear in several movies including 'Love Actually' and 'Jump!' alongside the late Patrick Swayze, while her last notable acting appearance came in a 2013 episode of 'Midsomer Murders'.
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