Adam Rickitt and his wife can’t have children.
The 42-year-old actor – who married Katy Fawcett in 2014 – has revealed he’s been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory disease that affects the spine, which can impact male fertility and has dramatically reduced his sperm count.
Speaking to OK! magazine, the ‘Hollyoaks’ star explained: "I have an autoimmune disorder called ankylosing spondylitis and one of the effects is decreased fertility.
"This lovely doctor was like, ‘Mr Rickitt, you’re supposed to have a sperm count of three million, you have two.’ I said, ‘Two million?’ He said, ‘No, you have two!"’
However, Katy preferred it to happen to them, as having kids is not as important to her relationship as it is to other people.
She added: "I didn’t really bat an eyelid. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a shame, but we’ve got each other.’
"I know having kids is very important for a lot of people, so it’s almost a good thing it happened to us."
Her reaction to his diagnosis clarified to Adam that Katy was his "soul mate" as he claimed people are "brainwashed" to thinking they must have children to be in love.
Adam said: ‘That’s how I knew that Katy was my soul mate. We’re all brainwashed with the idea you have to have kids, but we were so in love that when we found out that I couldn’t, it wasn’t scary at all.
"It felt natural that it was meant to be just the two of us and our dogs."