Rachel Riley has taken to social media to share some upsetting family news with her fans.
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The Countdown star - who is due to give birth to her second child anytime now - posted a series of snapshots of her beloved pet cat and wrote: “Rest in peace beautiful Beasty.
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“My big fat rescue cat has hopefully gone to a better place filled with king prawns and reunited with Rafa. Thanks mum for taking such good care of her in her final years. If only pets could live forever.” She concluded her post with a number of red love hearts.
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Rachel’s fans and friends were quick to offer their condolences. “It’s so hard to lose a pet,” one told her, while a second acknowledged: “Condolences, one of the tragedies of life is the difference in life span of pets and humans.”
Rachel is mourning the death of her beloved cat
Rachel has been busy preparing for the arrival of her second child this autumn. The new arrival will be a younger sibling for daughter Maven, who will be two in December. Rachel and Pasha confirmed her second pregnancy back in April.
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The presenter made use of the famous Countdown board for the fun announcement with the letters spelling out FITRILEY - an anagram of fertility.
The star announced her second pregnancy in April
In the caption, Rachel wrote: "A special teatime teaser! And your clue is... Riley had this to thank for the reason her clothes no longer fit her... "And it’ll only get worse till Autumn! "
She concluded: "Happy, happy days for our little family @pashakovalev and future big sister Mave."
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Rachel and Pasha started dating in 2014 after they were partnered together in the 2013 series of Strictly. The couple then married in June 2019 in Las Vegas, months before welcoming their little Maven, on 15 December.
The new arrival will be a younger sibling for Maven
In a recent interview with MailOnline, however, the TV star confessed that both she and Pasha were unsure about having children in the early stages of their relationship. Having had time to reflect, the pair decided to go ahead before it was too late.
"We've bashed them out! Get the sleep deprivation over in one go is the plan," she said. "I'm 35 and I've got friends that are struggling with fertility, and you just never know if you're going to be able to get pregnant, we have been really lucky, touch wood and we're very excited. They're great, we weren't sure if we wanted them before and we're just both in love, it's lovely."