ITV newsreader reveals infertility made her feel ‘so guilty’
Andrea Byrne has spoken candidly about her seven-year struggle with infertility.
The ITV Wales newsreader, 45, has presented for the network since 2008 and married the former rugby international player Lee Byrne in 2012.
Byrne revealed she felt her husband would be “better off” without her as they struggled to conceive, adding she felt “guilty” when doctors told her she wouldn’t be able to carry her own pregnancy.
Following a series of fertility tests, the presenter was told there was an issue with the thickness of her womb lining.
Speaking to the BBC, Byrne said: “I remember those feelings all the time of thinking [Lee] would be better off without me.”
She continued: “There are times when we wondered how we would stay together...because it’s so difficult emotionally.”
The presenter even encouraged her sports star husband to leave her. “I used to say ‘oh just go and find somebody else, somebody else could do this more easily. Just go and find another woman,’” Byrne recalled.
“And he would say to me ‘goodness, we are in this together.’”
After numerous IVF cycles and miscarriages, the couple gave birth to their daughter Jemima, who was conceived in a shock natural pregnancy, in 2019.
“It was unbelievable really,” said Byrne. “We were without hope and they said the chances are you will never be able to carry your own pregnancy.
“So, she [Jemima] really did defy everybody, all the medical advice we’d been given, she came along and said ‘nope, I’m going to make it through.’”
The broadcaster added: “I feel very conscious when I’m telling my story, that maybe it’s easier to tell because we did get the ending that we had.
“But I still feel it’s important to talk about, because I know how lonely we were during that journey.”
Infertility, defined by the inability to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months of regular unprotected intercourse, effects around one in six people worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation.
Byrne revealed she wished she’d been kinder to herself while experiencing infertility. “I think it’s very easy when you get some bad news…to catastrophise and think 10 steps ahead,” she said.
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen 10 steps down the road, so just try and deal with what’s happening in that moment,” she suggested.
“I wish I’d done that more.”
She added: “Take that time to find little bits of joy where you can and take time out if you need to from it. Because it can be all consuming, friendship-wise, it affects everything.
“So, you really need to be kind to yourself.”
