Ellie Simmonds' devastating baby dilemma and split from boyfriend after Strictly
Ellie Simmonds' devastating baby dilemma and split from boyfriend after Strictly
The Paralympian addresses the difficult decisions she now faces in a new ITV documentary
Simmonds faces a hugely difficult decision on whether or not to have children
Former Team GB swimmer Ellie Simmonds has revealed the heartbreaking decision she faces on whether to have children, admitting that she was "just not ready" for the emotional toll of the dilemma.
The five-time Paralympic gold medallist, who retired from swimming in 2021, turned 30 in November and is looking to start the next chapter of her life. However, Simmonds - who has achondroplasia, the most common cause of dwarfism - remains uncertain about whether she wants to become a mother or not.
She addresses the dilemma in a new ITV documentary - Ellie Simmonds: Should I Have Children? - which airs on ITV at 9pm on Tuesday night and explores the challenges faced by parents who have been told that their child will be born with disabilities.
The programme sees Simmonds explore the various options available to her, from sperm donors to egg freezing, as well as adoption, having herself been adopted at two weeks old after being given up by her birth mother.
However, the former swimmer, who also starred on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, has another factor to weigh up in deciding whether to have children, knowing that her achondroplasia will play a significant role in any future decisions about starting a family.
"I already know that gene changes led to my dwarfism and if I started a family, there would be a chance that I'd pass it on," she told The Times. "I'm super lucky. I've got the least impaired version of achondroplasia. But there could be complications with the spine, bowing of the legs, which can lead to reduced walking."
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After consulting a clinical geneticist who specialises in achondroplasia, Simmonds has learnt about pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) – a technique that identifies genetic faults in embryos before they are transferred to the uterus – leaving her with some difficult decisions to make.
Should she decide to have a child with a partner of average height, she explains in the programme, the baby would have a 50% chance of having achondroplasia.
However, if her partner also had achondroplasia, the likelihood of having an average-sized child decreases to 25%, with a 50% chance of 'single dose' dwarfism and a 25% risk of 'double dose' dwarfism, from which babies do not survive.
Additionally, those who undergo PGT also have to commit to having a 'normal' embryo placed back in the uterus, which as Simmonds notes in the documentary, means: "If we did that, no dwarfism baby would be born to a dwarfism couple."
She later added that this would be true "in fact, not just a dwarfism baby, but any baby with a disability", leaving her with a heartbreaking dilemma over whether to undergo PGT or not.
While doing so would see her avoid a potentially fatal outcome, she would also filter out a disabled child in the process.
"I'm involved in dwarf sports and the dwarfism community. I'm so proud to be part of that and to have dwarfism," she said.
"It would depend if [the father] was an individual with dwarfism or a non-disabled person. I'd never heard of PGT before now. But now I feel educated. I know it's there for me [if I want it] and to prevent the trauma of a double dose.
"I came away from it thinking, 'What can I do to make sure that people with a disability are being brought into this world to have a happy, content and fulfilled life?' We might need a bit more support and I might need a few adaptations around my house, or maybe some hospital appointments, but we're all different and it should be celebrated.
"I'm trying to help families and disabled people to feel more content, to feel happy with who they are," she added, before admittting that adoption "is definitely something I'd be up for thinking about in the future".
Participating in the documentary proved to be an eye-opener for Simmonds, as she admitted: "Making all these decisions is like digging deep down into your core. I was just not ready for it.
"I thought I knew everything about my body, but there was so much I didn't know," the former swimmer continued. "I now understand that as you get older your fertility drops. I know a lot of people who are starting to freeze their eggs, so they have the opportunity to have a child in the future.
"That's definitely something that I may do. And a lot of women are now deciding to use a sperm donor and have a child on their own. That's powerful too.
"But it's also powerful to understand that you don't have to get married and have children and live happily ever after like in the movies. You've got other options for your life. My indecision is more about being a woman than about my disability."
The heartbreaking dilemma comes two years after Simmonds split from her boyfriend of two years, Matt Dean, who she had known since they were both children.
While they kept their relationship out of the spotlight, i t was reported in 2023 that they had parted ways, although it was claimed that their break-up was "amicable".
Matt had previously been seen cheering on Simmonds during her stint on Strictly a year before their break-up, with the Paralympian revealing that he helped convince her to take part in the show.
She told The Sun at the time: "I was like 'shall I, shall I not?' Then I spoke to my other half Matt, and he was like 'go for it Ellie, take that leap of faith, you don't know unless you try.'
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"Now I'm so happy I said yes. As soon as I did we were bouncing around the kitchen like 'yay!' Like little buzzing bees."
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