Gemma Collins says she 'was told to have an abortion' because her baby was intersex
9 May 2024, 15:46 | Updated: 9 May 2024, 15:47
Gemma Collins has said she was told to have an abortion because her baby was going to be born intersex.
The reality TV star, 43, said that medical staff told her that her baby "is not going to be right".
Intersex is an umbrella term that refers to people who are born with a combination of male and female biological characteristics.
That could affect their genitals, their internal sexual organs, or their hormones, among other things.
She told the Everything I Know About Me podcast that when she went to the doctors for a scan "they said to me 'your baby could be a hermaphrodite'.
"You can imagine I had no idea what the word was. I had to look it up. It was a real shock.
"They advised me you need to have a termination because this baby is not going to be right."
Gemma added: "In a single instant, I learned that I'd been carrying a baby and lost it, meaning that once again I found my longstanding dreams of motherhood shattered into pieces."
"I actually gave birth to a child, sadly, and basically the child was four months old, basically I had a miscarriage but obviously the baby was formed and it died in front of me.
"I had to go to the hospital and my mum was there. I can remember my mum being really upset, I was in shock, I was upset.
"That was really a shocking moment for me. But this is what I'm saying, I can talk about it now.
"Things sometimes are not meant to be."
Collins has been vocal about her difficulties getting pregnant with her partner Rami Hawash.
As well as having the abortion, she has suffered three miscarriages.
The Only Way Is Essex star has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can make getting pregnant difficult.
Around one in every 2,000 babies in the UK are born intersex. Some 30,000 people in the UK are thought to be intersex.