Lisa Riley doesn’t want to have children naturally.
The 40-year-old actress – who tragically lost her mother Cath to breast cancer in 2012 – is convinced she would be a "wonderful" parent but believes the only way she can have a family of her own is to adopt because she doesn’t to pass on any cancer genes onto her future children.
Speaking openly on ‘Loose Women’ about her plans for motherhood on Tuesday (02.07.16), the former ‘Emmerdale’ star said: "I saw it with my mum and it’s really hard. Four years ago now [since her mother died]. She was 58 then she passed. So it was breast cancer, she survived that for 12 years, and in the liver and the pancreas at the end. She was my rock, my everything.
"I mean I have thought about it [adoption] long and hard, and I have discussed it a lot with all my mates at home have got loads of kids, and I have lived my life vicariously being a great godmother and certainly to my two lovely nephews. But for me I don’t want to put a child through the pain I went through, seeing the last three years of my mum and four years ago when she passed – I couldn’t do that to a child. So I have made that conscious decision I am not going to have a child naturally.
"And it’s something I’m very very much thinking about adopting, because I think I could be a wonderful mother, give a kid a great home, a lovely life and it’s something I would love to do . I would love to adopt, I really would. But it’s definitely at the forefront of my thoughts."
The television personality has revealed she doesn’t want to be "branded" as a cancer sufferer and undergoes regular smear tests to ensure she is all clear.
She said: "I am super confident as a person, but I don’t want to be branded with that. I think I’ve realised, and I’ve come to terms with the inevitable.
"I could walk out the studio and get knocked down by a bus, but I’m not going to live my life. So, I am a full hearted person who lives every day. I do [get my check-ups], and for smears I get the letters every three years. I go to my GP and they just check me once a year."
Lisa Riley ‘definitely’ wants to adopt a child
