Matt Barber has opened up about his own difficult birth, and revealed that doctors didn't expect him to survive. The actor, who is perhaps best known for his role as Atticus Aldridge in Downton Abbey, attended the Shop Wear Care event in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, and opened up to HELLO! about how the charity had saved his life.
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Matt opened up about how he was a Great Ormond Street baby
Matt said: "I'm a Great Ormond Street baby. I was born two months premature with some sort of kidney malfunction. As far as I understand, I was born by an emergency C-section to save my mum's life and they weren't really expecting to get to me too… They shipped me straight to Great Ormond Street and operated on me that day. I literally wouldn't be here without Great Ormond Street." The event, which was supported by HELLO! Fashion Monthly, saw designers including Alexander McQueen and Jimmy Choo donating pieces for raise money for the famous charity, and Matt joked about going shopping for some designer goods. "I'm currently waiting for my wife to turn up," he said. "I was going to wait for her until I started buying things but I'm going to go and get some stuff and see where I get to with it!"
Matt plays Atticus in the popular TV show
Former Made in Chelsea star Hugo Taylor also attended the event, and spoke to HELLO! about the importance of the charity. He said: "It means a lot to everybody in the UK. It's one of the charities most synonymously related with children and everything the hospital does, not just with diagnosis but easing suffering, rehabilitation, child positivity. It's one of the things we can be most proud of outside of the NHS." He added that he brought his mum along to buy some goodies, explaining: "My mum's coming down as well, she's the one who really loves shopping so it'll be more about keeping her in check than doing my own shopping!"