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‘Some friends will be shocked to learn
about my previous pregnancies and
miscarriages, as I kept them to myself’
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(LEFT) JUMPER: OASIS. SKIRT: MINIMUM. EARRINGS: FREEDOM. SHOES: JIMMY CHOO. (RIGHT) DRESS: OASIS. NECKLACE: MEME LONDON
therapy every ten weeks, a treatment
designed to stabilise cell membranes,
making it harder for killer cells to
attack the embryo.
Adele was told to try to fall
pregnant naturally and to contact
the clinic as soon as she found out.
After a positive pregnancy test some
two weeks later, she was put on an
intralipid drip and prescribed
several other courses of treatment
– and the nervous wait began.
“I rattled for the first three
months of my pregnancy,” smiles the
actress. “I was given steroids to
counter the killer cells and make the
embryo as strong as possible. I also
had to inject myself in the stomach
for my blood-clotting disorder. I
couldn’t go anywhere without a
make-up bag full of drugs.”
Adele felt sick throughout those
early days. “Even though I didn’t feel
great, I turned it into a positive,” she
says. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m on this
medication and that’s helping.’”
Through all the tough times,
however, Oliver has been a huge
support, she says: “I don’t know what
I’d have done without him.”
The couple met four years ago in
a Starbucks in Leeds, where they now
share a home, and Oliver proposed
on holiday in Rome in 2013. They
had planned to tie the knot next
year, but wedding plans have had to
take second place as their daughter
is due in March.
Adele hopes to have a natural
birth in their home town. “Because
of the thrombophilia, they don’t
want to do a Caesarean unless
necessary,” she explains.
BUSY MUM-TO-BE
Adele plans to continue working for
as long as possible. She recently
filmed a role in Casualty, which will
be shown over the Christmas period.
She’ll also be seen in the British film
We Still Kill the Old Way, released later
this year, and she starts work on
another film with the working title
Bonded by Blood later this month.
“I don’t know if they plan to hide
my pregnancy on screen,” she says.
“But I feel better in myself and it’s
nice to still be working.”
Adele has been working since she
was seven, when she appeared in
Babes in the Wood at the London
Palladium with Barbara Windsor,
John Inman and Marti Webb. Her
screen debut came when she was
nine, playing a little girl called
Squeak in Doctor Who.
Last year, she appeared in onewoman
comedy 51 Shades of Maggie
– “a massive achievement for me” –
after taking the lead in a stage
version of Wuthering Heights.
Before meeting Oliver and
settling back in Leeds, she had taken
a 14-month career break in Los
Angeles. “I was homesick,” she says.
“But I learned so much about myself
during that time.”
Is she glad she returned to work
“I love it,” she says. “I’m ambitious
and want to see what roles are out
there. Even if I don’t get the dream
jobs I always wanted, I never want to
look back and think, ‘What if…’”
She plans to carry on once her
baby is born, thanks to her “amazing
support network” of Oliver’s family
and her mum in London, to whom
only child Adele is very close.
But for now her little girl is her
number one priority – although she
says that she hasn’t felt ready to buy
gifts and accessories for the baby.
“I want this to be a success story,”
she says. “Some of my friends will be
shocked to learn about my previous
pregnancies and miscarriages, as I
kept them to myself.
“But I want other women to know
there’s light at the end of the
tunnel. Every day now, I just
think, ‘Wow!’”
H
INTERVIEW: DAWN EMERY
PHOTOS: DAVID VENNI
STYLING: MICHELLE KELLY AT CAROL
HAYES MANAGEMENT
HAIR & MAKE-UP: ALICE THEOBALD AT JOY
GOODMAN USING MAC, CLARINS AND LANZA
Now she has passed the halfway mark, Adele is finally allowing herself
to enjoy her pregnancy. “I want other women to know there’s light at the
end of the tunnel,” she says. “Every day now, I just think, ‘Wow!’”