Victoria Ekanoye is pregnant.
Victoria Ekanoye
The former 'Coronation Street' actress is expecting her first child with boyfriend Jonny Lomas, and she admitted they were planning to try for a baby next year, so their news came as "a bit of a surprise".
The 37-year-old star - who is six months pregnant and due to give birth in January - said: "We thought we would try next year.
"So when this pregnancy came along we were like, 'It's happening!'
"It did come as a bit of a surprise but it’s so unbelievably exciting."
Victoria admitted she and Jonny waited a bit before telling their friends about their news because some of her pals have miscarried, and her pregnancy is classed as "high risk" because she suffers from sickle cell anaemia, in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout a person's body.
She added to HELLO! magazine: "We know friends that have miscarried and so we waited until we were 12 weeks before we even told our parents.
"Then, with my health condition, we wanted a little bit more security and stability in knowing that everything is OK with baby and with me.
"As I have sickle cell, this is regarded as a high-risk pregnancy but the team at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester are amazing and I see my sickle cell specialist, my obstetrician and my midwife every month and they really look after me."
Victoria starred as Angie Appleton on the soap from 2017 to 2019, and she then took part in last year's 'The X Factor: Celebrity', on which she finished in 11th place.