Oti Mabuse looks every inch the doting mother as she carries her 13-month-old daughter through Brisbane airport to head home after I’m A Celeb

She was separated from her daughter for almost three weeks when she took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2024.

And Oti Mabuse looked thrilled to be reunited with her little one after her time in the Jungle, doting on her as she headed home to Britain on Tuesday.

The former Strictly pro, 34, was heading through Brisbane Airport and had her daughter in a baby carrier as they walked around.

She looked comfortable, ready for the long flight home, in a white and brown tracksuit and trainers.

Oti shares her daughter with her husband Marius Iepure, 41, and the pair became parents in November 2023.

Marius was there to greet Oti at the famous Jungle Bridge when she was released in four places last week.

Oti got emotional as she shared her premature birth story with Pastor Richard Coles on last Tuesday’s episode of I’m A Celebrity.

She discussed the birth of her daughter in November 2023, which she previously revealed left her with sepsis and diabetes.

While talking to Richard, Oti explained how her baby was placed in an incubator after birth, and because she couldn’t hold her, she used her voice to connect with her.

She said, “They find comfort in your voice. We sang church music every day for two months.’

Richard shared his own story, saying, “I remember once I went to baptize a little boy, a premature boy, he was born very premature, he was barely alive….”

Richard stopped what he was saying as he was overcome with emotion at the memory and fought back tears, while Oti stood up to give him a hug.

He continued, “I just remember him being a little lifeblood, and David [his then partner] got a pipette of water and we blessed it, and we baptized him and he survived and now he is a healthy young football player, which is great! But I just felt so… it was so precious.”

Oti agreed: ‘Yes, my daughter was very, very small when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, hearing those sounds, not seeing your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to have to constantly ask for advice from the doctors.’

Oti tried not to cry and told what she called the worst thing for her, which was that “every night you have to leave your baby in the hands of someone else.”

Oti said she can’t wait for Richard to meet her and asked, “Maybe you could say a prayer for her, I would love that.”

Richard admitted, “I’ve actually been praying for her.” With tears in her eyes, she thanked Richard and gave him a big hug.

Richard also opened up about the loss of his former partner, David. He confessed to Oti, “I miss him… He just left a huge hole in my life and I live my life around that loss.”

Oti and her husband Marius became parents in November 2023 after their newborn was born prematurely with an infection and spent six weeks in intensive care.

She is pre-diabetic and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 28 weeks, before also suffering complications after birth when she contracted sepsis.

Gestational diabetes is when you have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy, while pre-diabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are above the normal range, but not high enough to be diagnosed.

She previously said on Loose Women: ‘When I got pregnant I got gestational diabetes and we have diabetes in the family, but I didn’t really know what happens after giving birth.

‘Will it go away? Do you have to keep working? Years ago I saw pictures of models who were going to have a baby and within three weeks they were back on the catwalk.

“I’m in the bathroom, I’m crying, I probably haven’t washed in three days. How am I going to snap back?’

‘It’s so hard and my sister and I talk about it all the time. It’s really about being healthy.’

She revealed: ‘My reason for getting back into fitness was because I found out I was actually pre-diabetic.’

Shocked, Loose Women panellist Charlene White joked: ‘Really?’ to which Oti replied: ‘Yes, I’m still pre-diabetic and it’s about getting back to a point where I feel strong, I can manage my food and my sugar levels are right.’

Oti gave birth naturally and said she was “singing Chicago all the time” as the problems arose afterward.

She explained: ‘Once I gave birth to her it became more traumatic, I had sepsis and I didn’t know it. I had all these things, I had diabetes, I had pelvic pain, so turning, getting up and walking was very painful.

‘Then I found out I had sepsis. It was one thing over the other. We spent 10 minutes together and she was taken away with my husband and the doctors.

‘She was in the incubator and that was the first time we actually saw her. She was covered up and had all these machines and wires and everything covering her face…

“This premature world only comes to light when you go through it… It was a very, very scary time.”