Atomic Kitten singer Liz McClarnon-Cho has revealed the news of her pregnancy and opens up about the “dark times” she faced during her IVF story

Liz says she received an overwhelming response to her pregnancy news on social media(Image: Alex James / Reach PLC)

Liz McClarnon-Cho has announced that she is expecting her first baby aged 44 – but has also admitted that she’s somewhat “petrified” of what’s to come.

The Liverpool-born singer, who now lives in London, told the Mirror that she’s “loving life” while pregnant. However, she explains that her pregnancy journey came with some challenges and that she is now committed to sharing her experiences in the hope of helping others going through IVF treatment.

Revealing the news of her pregnancy earlier this month, the Atomic Kitten star said she was stunned by the massive reaction she received.

“I really didn’t expect people to be interested,” she laughed. “I just thought I should probably put it out there before someone else mentioned it. I’m still at that ‘is it a baby bump or is it just a big tummy?’ stage I think, but it was only a matter of time.”

On deciding to reveal her news on social media Liz explained: “I wore a Baby On Board badge on the Tube the other day because I didn’t want to be knocked, and I noticed someone really look at me… So I decided to just let people know what was happening, then I think it’d been seen by half a million people within a few hours.”

“I’m just here living my fabulous little life, I didn’t think people would care,” she added. “But I think IVF is something that a lot of people can relate to – maybe more than we realise.”

After previously facing two miscarriages, Liz does not want to dwell on the past, but she says that she is determined to share her own experience with others in the hope that she can help add to the conversation surrounding IVF.

Liz says she wants to share her experience of IVF as she announces her pregnancy (Image: Alex James / Reach PLC)

The couple’s IVF journey started early in their relationship. Liz explains that they both knew they wanted children and were aware that her being 40 could delay the natural process. In 2022, the couple had three failed embryo transfers, which Liz says hit her hard.

“The first time we did it, I thought, ‘This will be it,’” she recalls. “But by my third cycle, it was obviously very different. When that one didn’t work, I was really quite sick and I was in a dark hole.

“I’d put on so much weight but I didn’t want to tell anyone why, because I didn’t want the IVF to become my identity, my whole personality. I was still doing shows and I’d see the comments online talking about me.

“I remember one said, ‘She’s getting really thick,’ and others were like, ‘She’s unrecognisable.’ I tried to remember that those people didn’t know what was happening, but it was hard. I just felt broken after the third time, so we took a break before the wedding.”

Liz explains that she made a conscious decision to be honest in her pregnancy announcement on Instagram where she shared a video highlighting the “dark times” she faced during IVF treatment and the feelings of “loss after so much hope”.

Liz admits facing “dark times” before getting her happy pregnancy news(Image: Alex James / Reach PLC)

“The whole process made me truly appreciate that having a baby is a miracle,” she says. “There are so, so many things that need to happen correctly for someone to get pregnant, and for that to result in a healthy baby.

“If you fall pregnant naturally maybe you’re not as aware, but at times we would be waiting every single day for the phone call to say how many eggs had been retrieved, or how many embryos they had, or if the embryos were healthy, or growing, or to tell us if I was pregnant. Then when it doesn’t work you’re just in shock.”

Towards the end of last year the couple suffered two heartbreaking miscarriages following their first successful cycles.

Liz shared: “I said I was ‘done’ after the last one, and Peter was absolutely on board with that, he didn’t say anything other than, ‘This is your body and I’ll support whatever you decide you want,’ which was a huge thing for me.

“I felt so bad emotionally, it was really tough. But then we spent Christmas at home in my tiny two-bedroom flat, and my mum and dad came down from Liverpool and we all squeezed in. That time actually helped me heal.”

Liz says she is now “loving life” with some of the anxiety that she felt from her earlier pregnancies having now disappeared.

Liz says she was able to take some time to “heal” during her pregnancy journey (Image: Alex James / Reach PLC)

Liz and her doctor husband, Peter Cho, are well into the second trimester of pregnancy, and the singer says pregnancy sickness has worn off.

Excitedly, she says the next milestone is finding out the gender of her baby. She explains she has no preference over her child being a boy or a girl, but says she does want to remove any uncertainty where she can.

She’s also aware of the potential impact of her age on her pregnancy and labour, and is already taking aspirin as she falls into the “high risk” category. She is being monitored for pre-eclampsia, and will soon start taking regular blood-thinning injections.

She added: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so grateful, but I’m also petrified.

“But you know what? It’s happened to women older than me before, and it’ll happen again – so we’ll just get on with it!”