Hollyoaks actress Jessica Fox reveals she is expecting her first child

Hollyoaks star Jessica Fox has revealed she is expecting her first child with husband Nicholas Willes.

The actress, 39, who is best known for playing Nancy Hayton in the Channel 4 soap, also opened up about her fertility journey, explaining that she’d had two miscarriages before.

Jessica hugged Nicholas, who she tied the knot in 2020, in the Instagram snaps along with a series of baby scans.

The couple all smiled as they wore matching hats with the words “mama” and “daddy” written on them.

Jessica wrote a lengthy caption, which she screenshotted and posted as a series of images, detailing her fertility journey.

She began by saying, “Nick and I have walked a rocky road to get to this point. A miscarriage is terrible, there is no other word for it. It robs you of the future you planned, your confidence in your body, it’s lonely, lonely, scary and nobody seems to talk about it. It’s incredibly painful, fainting in your bathroom is painful.

Sweet: Jessica enjoyed Nicholas, who she tied the knot with in 2020, in the Instagram snaps along with a series of baby scans

Jessica continued, “It takes away the joy and excitement when and if you choose (and are able) to get pregnant again. It has been replaced by fear, stress and more anxiety than I could have ever imagined.

Nick and I lost two babies in 2021. Both losses were at the end of the first trimester and utterly heartbreaking.

She went on to explain how difficult it was when her Hollyoaks character got pregnant: “When I got pregnant for the second time, the character I play in Hollyoaks was pregnant too. On Twitter and Instagram I would see comments that I must be pregnant in real life. I looked pregnant almost immediately and I started to gain weight.

“I started showing at work, feeling very smug that I would have the most realistic baby bump ever. Maybe my real baby can play my kid on the screen? The wardrobe department, the nicest people on the planet, were the only ones who knew I was pregnant.

‘Then I lost the baby. On Friday I had a real bump, on Monday I put on a fake one. It was as gruesome as it sounds. I’ve tried to keep it a secret and carry on with it. I never expected to share this on social media.’

Tough: The actress, 39, who is best known for playing Nancy Hayton in the Channel 4 soap, also opened up about her fertility journey, explaining that she’d had two miscarriages before.

She went on to say, “On my due date, at work, I had a beautiful little baby and I cried uncontrollably throughout the scene. The director, who didn’t know my situation, must have thought I was fantastic – I was broken. My mental health was shit.

“I’d given up sleep, I’d developed a fear of driving, intrusive thoughts, and we’re thinking some form of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). A holiday, meditation, the NHS and most important time things improved tremendously and I hope they burned that damn hump.

‘I saw the most beautiful rainbow on holiday in Greece, I was pregnant when I got home.’

Jessica concluded by explaining that she was getting help from the ‘miscarriage clinic’ to allow her third pregnancy to continue safely and confirmed: ‘At 20 weeks our baby is healthy and growing. Precisely in the spring of 2023.’

Jessica announced her engagement to Nicholas in November 2019 when she shared a photo of her sparkly engagement ring on Instagram.

The soap star wrote in the post: ‘Be with someone you can be yourself with.

‘Someone who makes you want to be better, kinder, eat more fruits and vegetables. So of course I said ‘yes’.’

The couple secretly married in October 2020 after their ‘planned wedding’ dream was postponed due to Covid-19.

Happy couple: The couple secretly married in October 2020 after their ‘planned wedding’ dream was postponed due to Covid-19

On Hold: Jessica captioned the photos, seemingly revealing that they decided to tie the knot after their ‘planned wedding’ dream was postponed