IN heartbreaking scenes on I’m A Celebrity, Strictly star Oti Mabuse was seen breaking down in tears over being separated from her premature baby daughter.
Oti, 34, was talking to Reverend Richard Coles, and during the exchange she revealed details about her daughter’s birth.
Oti gave birth to her daughter prematurely in December last year.
Her little girl arrived two months early and the Dancing On Ice judge endured a traumatic 16-hour labour.
The baby spent the next six weeks in neonatal care at University College London Hospital as she was born with an infection after Oti developed sepsis.
Discussing the ordeal with Richard, Oti fought back tears, as she said: “They find comfort in your voice. For two months, every single day we’d sing church music.”
Oti explained her daughter was in an incubator and she’d sign to her and use her voice in order to connect.
She went on: “My daughter was really, really tiny when she was born. It’s hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, to hear those sounds, to not see your baby’s eyes for a week, it’s hell to constantly look for advice from the doctors.”
And she said the worst part was having to leave her little girl, who she shares with husband Marius Lepure, every night.
“Every night, you need to leave them, you need to leave your baby in someone else’s hands,” she continued.
Pro dancer Oti then asked if Reverend Richard would say a prayer for her little girl.
He replied: “I’ve already said a prayer for her actually,” and she thanked him with tears in her eyes.
In February, Oti thanked the NHS for saving her daughter’s life and revealed to The Sun On Sunday that she and Marius were even given therapy because of their ordeal.
During their conversation, Rev Richard teared up too, as he discussed the loss of his former partner David.
He told Oti: “I miss him… He’s just left a massive hole in my life and I’m living my life around that loss.”
Richard and his late partner Rev David Coles, a Church of England vicar, had been together for 12 years and were in a a civil partnership.
In 2019, his husband sadly passed away. There was limited detail about his death until two years later when the I’m A Celebrity star revealed David had died from alcoholism.
