Stacey Solomon shares teenage pregnancy ordeal and visit to abortion clinic

Stacey Solomon has opened up about her teenage pregnancy, revealing she visited an abortion clinic to explore her options before deciding to have her first child.

Stacey sought guidance from her parents at the time, who supported her regardless of her choice but refrained from giving direct advice, a response she found "horrendous". The beloved TV personality was just 18 when she became pregnant with her eldest son, Zachary, with former partner Dean Cox. Stacey and husband Joe Swash have a blended family of six.

She is mum to sons Zachary, 16, and Leighton, 12, from previous relationships and son Rex, five, Rose, two, and baby Belle, one, who she shares with Joe.

During a candid chat on Caroline Hirons' 'Glad We Had This Chat' podcast, the now mother-of-five recounted: "That was my first sexual relationship. When I had to tell my dad [about being pregnant] I was really scared, but I think deep down I knew he'd be fine. That is something I always say to my kids, like, come to me. Whatever it is, I am the only one who's not going to disown you. And I think deep down, I knew that."

She continued, discussing her parents' approach, reports the Mirror: "I knew they'd know the answer as well of what I should do. And they gave me all the options. And you know what? My dad and mum took me to an abortion clinic to find out what my options were and what I could do – and they gave me no advice! They said, 'Yeah, you make that decision' at the time, which I thought was pretty horrendous. I was like, 'Tell me what to do and I'll do it.'"

Caroline interjected: "And you'd probably resent them for it now?" to which Stacey responded: "I think whatever decision I'd have made, I'd have blamed them for it. So they knew what they were doing and they said, 'This is up to you, we'll support you whatever choice you make.' But you do it and I remember going in there. You have to have a scan so they can see how far along you are. They didn't show me the scan, they have the screen facing away from you. But I could hear the heartbeat."

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Stacey, 34, chose to continue her pregnancy and is a proud mum to 16-year-old Zachary. She also has 12-year-old son Leighton from her previous relationship with Aaron Barnham.

When quizzed about whether she's done expanding her brood, Stacey playfully hinted: "I have and I haven't." She then confessed that she and Joe hadn't planned their youngest, Belle, admitting the news came as a "shock."

She elaborated: "We weren't planning to have another baby. We were definitely planning a break. Rex and Rose were only a couple of years apart and Rose was like six months old. But yeah, apparently you only need to have sex once and you'll get pregnant. Literally."

Stacey continued: "And we didn't know for ages because I was still breastfeeding Rose. So, I still have my baby weight from Rose, so nothing that had changed. But then Rose had her first birthday and I stopped breastfeeding. Then it had taken a while for my period to come back and I was like, God, I usually snap right back."

Despite juggling a successful career with fashion, beauty, and home ranges, as well as TV appearances on shows like ITV's Loose Women and BBC's Sort Your Life Out, Stacey Solomon has confessed her ultimate ambition.

She divulged: "Every year I have a meeting with my agent and this year when they asked me my five-year goals. I was like, I want to be a stay at home mum.

"That is like my dream, my ultimate dream. I just want to be with my kids. It's conflicting because I also want to fulfil my dreams and goals and the things I'm passionate about. Because if I don't have that, will I feel unfulfilled? So what I'm trying to do at this point is make sure everything I work on, I can work 90 per cent of the time at home. And then just do passion projects outside of the house."

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