Exclusive: Oti Mabuse talks baby number two with Marius Iepure
I'm A Celebrity contestant Oti Mabuse has opened up about the possibility of welcoming additional children with her husband Marius Iepure.
During an exclusive interview with HELLO!, the former Strictly Come Dancing star spoke candidly about welcoming their daughter prematurely, as well as their wish to expand their brood one day.
When asked whether more children might one day be on the cards, Oti said: "Absolutely. I think what it is is when she's playing on her own, and you're like 'Oh my gosh, it's such a lonely life.'
"She comes to the dance studio, so it's almost like she has many brothers and sisters that she can play with and she goes to nursery. So she's generally used to being around people and she's not scared of people, but when we're at home... or when it's cold and it's raining and you're indoors, you're just like, 'Yeah [it would be nice to have another one].'"
Oti, 34, continued: "So we're definitely not against having more children. And honestly, if God allows it, we will definitely grow the family."
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Oti and Marius are already proud parents to a daughter whom they welcomed last year. The TV star gave birth prematurely at 28 weeks, and delayed announcing the arrival of their newborn until Christmas Day.
After her "traumatic" birth, the couple's daughter spent six weeks in the NICU. Reflecting on the experience, Oti said: "Can you imagine being born and, and you're not born into mummy's hands, you're born into an incubator with a machine and wires and the sound.
"So I really became protective over her and that's why we don't really talk about her or show her face or [share] her name online - it's because we just felt super protective over her."
While the experience was largely shaped by anxiety, Oti had the incredible support of her choreographer husband Marius and her mother, Dudu.
"I think he was supportive before we had children, while I was pregnant and afterwards," Oti said of Marius.
"He is an incredible support. It's quite tough to just verbalise like, 'Hey, this is really tough,' and I think he understood. I also had my mum there and my mum obviously has three daughters who've had four children.
"So she understands that the first couple of months are so hectic and nobody gets sleep. And when I say it takes a village, it genuinely takes a village when you realise, 'Oh I have not had uninterrupted sleep in a few weeks'.
"And you have a partner who's like 'You know what, just sleep I'll do the night feeds' or your mum who's like 'This is the system that I use.'"
