Anton Du Beke has described the “gruelling” IVF process he and his wife went through before the birth of their twins.
The couple are parents to three-year-old twins George and Henrietta and the Strictly Come Dancing professional said he was “in awe” of what his wife Hannah endured to get pregnant.
He told ITV’s Loose Women she was diagnosed with endometriosis in her early 20s.
Du Beke said: “Endometriosis is a massive thing for ladies. From a man, you look on and it’s one of those things where you go ‘I don’t understand’.
“For a woman, it affects the quality of your life to a degree because it sort of comes in three parts.
“First, there’s the excruciating pain, second there’s the swelling. It sometimes makes you look like you’re pregnant, which is quite a perverse thing because people come up to you and say ‘congratulations’ and you’re like ‘actually, no’.
“And it stops you, in many cases, from becoming pregnant.
“As a man, there’s nothing you can do. All I can do is support, empathise and do whatever I can do.”
Du Beke said IVF was their “only option” to have children.
“We went to the clinic and discussed it,” he said.
“And we made the decision, ‘this is what we’re going to do’, and we were absolutely determined. You go along and, of course, the process is remarkable.
“I take my hat off … it’s not even a big enough expression … to Hannah and women in general doing this. It’s an incredible thing. The pay-off is so great, of course.”
Detailing the process of the treatment, he said: “The injections … gruelling, intense, painful … the bruising.
“But of course you forego all that because the potential prize at the end of having babies and we were fortunate to have the twins … it’s sort of OK, because you’re going through the process.”
Du Beke added: “I’m in awe of Hannah. You have to have injections, all the time … in your stomach. They’re not little, invisible needles, they’re big old blunt things.
“I had to do it – ones in your behind. And I’m thinking ‘please don’t hurt her’. And of course it hurts. And it’s so hard to do it.
“But of course, what am I worried about? She’s the one who has to go through the pain.”
Discussing how it affected them as a couple, he said: “You could say it brought us closer together because it’s a shared experience.
“I use the shared bit loosely as it’s Hannah’s and I’m there as much as I can.
“I felt like I gave myself up to Hannah … that’s such a ridiculous statement but I was like ‘what do you want? – the best I can do is support you’.”
Loose Women is on weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.