Amanda Holden has marked the 14th anniversary of her late son Theo by lighting a candle in his memory. He was the second child of the Britain's Got Talent judge, aged 53. He was stillborn in 2011.
Sharing the poignant image on Instagram on February 1, Holden told followers, "Our beautiful boy would have been 14 today". Holden has previously spoken about her painful experience to highlight the issue of stillbirths.
In an emotional recollection in 2022 on Heart Radio, she spoke of the overwhelming fear she felt about informing her eldest daughter Lexi, now aged 19, and described going through a "surreal out-of-body experience".
She recounted being moved to a private room during the delivery at 28 weeks, spared from the sound of other babies. She said: "We lost our baby Theo at 28 weeks, and they very sensitively moved me into another room so I could deliver him without having to hear the lovely babies screaming on a normal ward. Often that's not thought about, it's little things like that."
Holden said she initially didn’t want to hold Theo but found the strength to say farewell, reports the Mirror. She said: "I held him in my arms and I said goodbye, basically. But I couldn't have done it without the incredible team around us. My husband was so strong and so amazing but they got him through it too."
Stillbirths, which are the births of babies who have died after 24 weeks of pregnancy, are tragically more common than many people believe, affecting one out of every 250 pregnancies. According to the NHS, the cause of stillbirth is not always apparent, but possible reasons include issues with the placenta or birth defects.
Amanda went through another near-death experience while giving birth to her daughter Hollie, where she had to receive several blood transfusions following a severe hemorrhage.
Fortunately, both Amanda and her daughter Hollie, who is now 13, pulled through despite the ordeal. Amanda told Good Morning Britain: "It has been well documented that Chris and I had a baby boy who was born sleeping at an NHS hospital... And then the year after he was born I delivered Hollie, and then went into a coma."
"So that was pretty traumatic, and then three years ago my sister had a car accident that she has fully recovered from now. But all those incidents were massively trying and the NHS were there to support us all the way through."
