Actress Kara Tointon has introduced her new baby son, Frey, to the world in this exclusive photoshoot with HELLO!. Talking for the first time about becoming a mum, the 35-year old Mr Selfridge and The Halcyon star (and also former winner of Strictly Come Dancing) reveals that she and her fiancé, Norwegian-born Marius Jensen, have known what their son would be called for some time.
"Marius came up with it quite early on in the pregnancy and we never drifted from it," says Kara of the name, which in Norse mythology is the God of prosperity, peace and fertility. Of Frey’s birth, Kara tells how he was born on his due date of November 22 but the birth didn’t go to plan as she was rushed to theatre for an emergency C-section when her baby's heartbeat dropped after 58 hours of labour.
MORE: Kara Tointon's engagement announcement in HELLO!
"Like everything in life, what you expect to happen, more often than not, doesn't. It did become quite dramatic and a bit frightening. I was in an episode of ER at that point. It all happened incredibly quickly. There is a nine-month build and then you meet your baby and instantly they are engraved in your mind. Suddenly you know them deeper than anyone while having only just met." Kara credits Marius for helping her maintain her fitness and stamina levels during pregnancy and labour with his Jensen Method of exercise. "Now, though, he just wants me to chill," she says. She plans to return to work when the time is right and see how her love of performing on both stage and screen can fit around her new role as a mum.
For now, however, she says: "I’m loving being in this bubble. It’s challenging and calming all in one and I want to savour it. But I’ll always love my work. It’s in my blood." Despite his dramatic entrance, Kara tells how, "He’s a pretty cool dude, very chilled, sometimes he just lies there and stares at me." The actress will be enjoying the early months of parenthood, splitting time between a country cottage in Sussex and their London apartment near Marius’s chiropractic clinic.
MORE: HELLO!'s celebrity baby news
Kara tells HELLO!, "We love our life in the city but I want to enjoy the first months of motherhood and take some time out from work, and away from all the usual rushing around I do in London. I am loving being in this bubble. It’s challenging and calming all in one and I want to savour it, but I’ll always love my work, it’s in my blood." The new parents also reveal their plans to marry. Kara tells HELLO!, "We are hoping next year, perhaps in Norway or maybe in London. My mum hasn’t been too well over the last year or so and I want her to be able to enjoy it. Seeing her with Frey and dealing with everything she has to right now is overwhelming and I couldn’t be more proud. I just want her to be back to herself again. That’s our priority."
"My mum has always said having a child would be a good thing for me and I can see it," she adds. "But oh my God, I’m tired. I can’t sleep in the day as I’m looking at him all the time and thinking: ‘Kara, come on, he’s asleep so you sleep.’ But I don’t want to miss any of it. It is the most incredible time in my life."
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
