KELLIE Bright took time off from EastEnders to have the IVF that helped her get pregnant with her third child.
The 44-year-old Linda Carter actress kept the news of what she was going through under wraps – but did tell her bosses at the soap.
The star having a third child with husband Paul Stocker after what she called a “rollercoaster” IVF journey
The nature of IVF – where an egg is removed from the woman and fertilised with sperm in a lab – meant she could have been called on to pull out of filming to go to a clinic.
She explained that the treatment began in September but the first two embryos didn’t work.
Kellie told OK!: “I actually told my bosses at EastEnders straight away that we were going for it. I knew I’d need time off and they were utterly brilliant.”
Kellie and Paul, 38, already have sons Freddy, nine, and Gene, four.
The soap favourite told OK! magazine it had been a “roller coaster” getting pregnant again – but said she’d “always had an itch” for another child.
Kellie welcomed her first son naturally aged 34, before having IVF in her second pregnancy.
After Gene was born, Kellie stored three extra embryos. After failed pregnancy attempts with two of them, the final one became the couple’s third child.
