Arlene Phillips mistook her second pregnancy for the menopause.
The 74-year-old choreographer was 47 years old when she found out she was four months pregnant with her second child Abi, now 26, but has admitted she initially thought the sickness was down to her going through the change.
Speaking on ‘Loose Women’ on Monday (17.07.17), she said: "Well I thought it was the menopause. So I think I was four pregnant before I even realised and I remember thinking: ‘Gosh this menopause is killing me. It’s just horrendous’ And for once I actually had morning sickness and I never had morning sickness with my first child so I thought: ‘Why am I throwing up every morning?’ That was it, I found out I was pregnant."
However, the former ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ judge – who also has daughter Alana
– didn’t find her pregnancy as enjoyable as she thought she would as people kept referring to her as a "geriatric mother" and questioning whether she was "too old."
She explained: "It was very strange because, for me, it was a gift. To have a second child naturally at my age, I couldn’t believe it so I went to my local hospital and I remember going in and ‘Yes you are pregnant.’ And they said: ‘Could we have 12 students following you because you’re the oldest mother we’ve ever had here.’
"I thought: ‘No, I’m really not sure about that.’ Times change because when I had my first child in my 30s I was already a geriatric mother. It was very difficult and then I actually went private because I didn’t feel like I could cope with 12 students and they actually said to me: ‘You’re going to find this difficult because at your age you should really be a grandmother.’ I was very emotional because I felt like I was doing the wrong thing."
Arlene Phillips thought pregnancy was menopause
