Jess Cunningham has shared her newborn son’s existence – and his adorable name – for the first time.
The Apprentice star now has five children after secretly giving birth two weeks ago, and says she’s struggling with the mum-guilt of not being able to give all her kids equal quality time with her.
Speaking for the first time about her baby son – who she’s named Dudley – the businesswoman shared how her older children are obsessed with him.
“The kids love Dudley and every five minutes I have one of them asking me if they can hold him,” she told the Hot Mess Mums Club podcast this week.
(Image: theprodigalfox/Instagram)
(Image: theprodigalfox/Instagram)
“It’s brilliant but it drives me absolutely insane, I just have to beg them to let him sleep. Because we are so used to sharing each others time, I haven’t really noticed a massive difference, they just love having a new baby.”
Jessica started dating Alex Daw four years ago and the pair had their first child, Digby, together in 2018.
Before that, Jess was with her ex Alistair Eccles – the father of her three eldest daughters Poppy, Hattie and Olive – who sadly took his own life in 2017 after their split in 2014.
An inquest found he had a history of anxiety and depression but had given no indication he was planning his suicide.
Jess and Alex found love together and went on to have son Digby.
(Image: Instagram)
(Image: Instagram)
Speaking of what it’s like wrangling five kids, Jessica went on: “The age transitions haven’t been too bad, three to four I found really difficult, and around that time I wanted to have another baby, then I started thinking ‘I don’t know if I can do this!’
“Yeah, around those ages really got me, and then Alex really wanted to have another baby and I just didn’t think I had it in me – and then literally within the first or second ‘shot’ I was pregnant.”
The reality star chose a homebirth for little Dudley and even managed to “dance him out” using a visualisation technique.
(Image: Instagram)
“With my first birth, with Poppy, it was absolutely horrific, I was screaming, but with Olive and Hattie, my sister was my birthing partner and my sister is really fun, so she made sure I was laughing, gave me a little massage, and with every birth you kind of tweak it and make it better,” she explained.
“Then with Digby I had started stepping into spirituality, learning more about energy, how our bodies work, and then something intuitively made me want to dance like a tribal woman, so I started dancing round and welcoming the pain, and then I visualised this wave pushing him out. So I remembered that and then with this one I danced the baby out and welcomed the pain and the contractions.”
Congratulations to Jessica and Alex!
