Call the Midwife star Helen George has shared candid details about her relationship with her former co-star Jack Ashton. The couple, who found love following Helen's split from husband Oliver Boot in August 2015, met on the set of the BBC medical drama, and grew close while filming on location in South Africa. Last year, their lives changed when they welcomed their first child together – a little girl called Wren. In a new interview with Stella Magazine, the 34-year-old actress revealed: "It was a slow process. All of us on the show are mates. We all hang out together and Jack always really makes me laugh."
Helen George and Jack Ashton have a daughter called Wren
Helen stars as Trixie Franklin in the period drama, while Jack played Reverend Tom Hereward – his character left after his TV wife Barbara died in the last series. Heaping praise on her partner, Helen gushed: "He's so unbelievably kind and down to earth, and he's such a great dad." The pair started dating a year after she split from her ex-husband Oliver. At the time of her divorce, Helen joined Strictly Come Dancing where she was partnered up with pro dancer Aljaz Skorjanec. "Going through a divorce is awful," she added. "I'd been asked to do Strictly and, strange as it sounds, I thought it would be like a sort of therapy after my divorce. I'd spoken to quite a few people who said how it really helped them through difficult times. You are focused on this one thing, it's an emotional journey."
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Helen George stars as Trixie Franklin in Call The Midwife
Meanwhile, Helen's pregnancy wasn't smooth-sailing – she had delivered her daughter six weeks before her due date because she suffered from intrahepatic cholestasis. ICP is a serious liver disorder which is caused by a build-up of acid within the body. When asked about having working mum guilt, Helen confessed that "filming six months of the year" has made her miss some major milestones. "I missed the first crawl, first word and that is so hard," she shared. "But we are now a family. Our priority is our little girl. At the moment when I work, Jack is with her – but over Christmas I am taking a break and just allowing myself a few months to be a full-on mother."
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