Lisa Riley has revealed she is planning IVF treatment in a bid to have her first baby at the age of 41. The Loose Women star had previously said she would never have children after the pain of losing her own mother to cancer in 2012. But after losing 12 stone and falling in love "for the first time" with a "very talented and very, very lovely" musician named Al, she has had a change of heart. In an interview with You magazine, she explained: "I've decided not to live in fear. I want to have IVF but I'm not going to put myself through a lot of stress if it doesn't work. There are lots of reasons why I want to have a baby: some to do with the fact I've saved myself by losing weight, but also that I'm in love for the first time in my life and he would like to have a baby if we can." The former Emmerdale actress added: "I don’t just think about myself anymore. If we were to have a child that would be wonderful."
© Photo: RexLisa Riley has revealed she is turning to IVF in the hopes of having her first baby
In the past two and a half years, Lisa has lost more than half her body weight, dropping from a size 28 to a size 12 through a combination of healthy eating and exercise. She has also undergone two operations to remove excess skin from her tummy, legs and arms - and it's clear her physical transformation has impacted her psychologically too. Lisa had previously spoken openly about her decision not to have baby for fear of leaving her child without a mother if she too became a victim of cancer, like her own mum and grandmother.
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© Photo: Getty ImagesLisa, pictured on the Strictly tour in 2013, has gone from a size 28 to a 12
But she hinted she may have had a change of heart in August during an appearance on Loose Women. "I've always said because of my mum and the cancer gene, I was very reluctant to have a child," she said at the time. "But like you [Linda Robson] said, you might not have met the right person. Well, I'm really lucky that over the last three years I feel that I have met the right person and the person who I would want to be the father of my child. So I would like to think the NHS would help me should I need it." Further addressing her fertility, she added: "Do I allow Mother Nature to take its course or am I too old? I'm at this real crossroads in my life where I don't know what to do."
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