'I have an overwhelming sense of guilt' Stacey Solomon opens up about having children by two fathers
Stacey Solomon opens up about having two children by two different men
Stacey Solomon has opened up about the guilt she felt over having children by two different fathers.
Speaking in a candid video blog for The Huffington Post, Stacey discussed the notion of the 'right time' to expand your family in a new relationship when you already have children with a previous partner.
'Mine is plural, I have two children with two different fathers, and I always have an overwhelming sense of guilt that if I were to make my family any greater, then I would impact on them socially and emotionally,' she explained.
'I read loads of studies that say that broken families end up having children with worse cognitive behavioural skills, and less likely to learn, more likely to have emotional difficulties going through life.'
'There's definitely been times in my life where I've felt the stigma against having multiple children with different fathers,' she added, referring to a time when an unnamed 'well known person' publicly stated that she should stop having children to prevent confusing her existing family.
'Part of me was like: "Hey, you don't even have any children, what do you know?" and then the other side of me was like: "Maybe my children are confused?"'
Stacey, who had eldest son Zachary with boyfriend Dean Cox in 2008, and a second boy, Leighton, with then-fiance Aaron Barnham in 2012, said that she had wondered if she had been irresponsible, but added that her own family is blended, and she loved growing up with lots of siblings.
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'Does it really affect them in a negative way or does it make their minds a little bit broaded?' she questioned of her own children.
'My mum would come on family holidays with my dad and my stepmum, and it would be as though we were just an extended family, rather than two separate, completely separate lives.'
'I hope I'm able to do that with my children. I have a great relationship with their fathers.'
The Loose Women panellist is currently in a relationship with soap star Joe swash, and admits that she's concerned about deciding when her children will be ready for a new addition to their family.
'Life is never going to be perfect,' she concludes. 'And you just have to go with it, adapt to it and deal with it.'
'I think by doing that, you're always going to give your children the best start in life, because you're showing them that actually, it's not always going to be the fairytale, but it will still ultimately be filled with absolute love and dedication.'
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