Despite being a world-famous ice skater, Jayne Torvill faced a battle in her personal life as she tried to have children following a life-threatening condition in her 40s.
The British skating legend, 66, is happily married to American sound engineer Phil Christensen and they are now proud parents to their adopted children, Kieran and Jessica.
Jayne previously opened up about her journey to motherhood, where she suffered a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy before enduring 12 months of IVF treatment.
Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2013, the Dancing On Ice star broke down in tears when she said she stopped trying to have children “quite late” because it would have “stopped” her skating career.
She said: “As a couple skating together, it’s easy for the guy to leave and start a family because it wouldn’t affect his skating.”
Despite being a world-famous ice skater, Jayne Torvill (pictured this month) faced a battle in her personal life as she tried to have children following a life-threatening condition in her 40s.
The British skating legend, 66, is happily married to American sound engineer Phil Christensen and they are proud parents to their adopted children, Kieran, 21, and Jessica, 17.
“Whereas for me, I would have stopped doing what we were doing, so I left it quite late and by then I was already in my forties.”
Jayne, who won Olympic gold in 1984 with partner Christopher Dean, revealed that when she and her husband Phil began trying to have children, she “got pregnant quickly”, however it wasn’t until she had a scan that doctors They told him something was wrong.
She continued: “I got pregnant pretty quickly and I thought, ‘Oh, this is good.’ And when I went for an ultrasound they told me I had an ectopic pregnancy and I didn’t know what that meant.
‘They said, “The embryo is growing in one of the tubes.” And I said, “Oh, okay, so how do you get it out?” And they said, “We don’t. We can’t.” That’s when it hit me.
Ectopic pregnancy, which can be life-threatening, occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually inside a fallopian tube.
The result of an ectopic pregnancy is that the egg does not develop into a baby and continuing the pregnancy is a health risk.
Usually, the pregnancy must be eliminated by medication or surgery.
Jayne revealed she underwent surgery after the sad news and tried “IVF for a year”, which she described as “traumatizing”.
Jayne previously opened up about her journey to motherhood when she first suffered an ectopic pregnancy before enduring 12 months of IVF treatment.
Speaking in 2013, the Dancing On Ice star broke down in tears as she said she stopped trying to have children “quite late” because it would have “stopped” her skating career (pictured in 2021).
Jayne revealed that when she and Phil (pictured in 1994) started trying to have children she “got pregnant quickly” but when she went for a scan doctors told her something was wrong.
“So I went through the surgery and then it was obvious that it was going to be more difficult. So we tried IVF for about a year. “This, as many women know, is traumatic in itself,” she added.
Fighting back tears, his proud friend and skating partner Christopher told the audience and ITV viewers: “I’ve never talked about it in public before.”
Jayne, who was 55 at the time of the interview, also spoke about her journey to adopting her two children.
The ITV star said at the time she still thought she was going to have children, but revealed it was a friend who actually changed her mind about adoption.
Jayne explained: ‘A friend of mine had adopted a little boy. She said, “Come see it.” At that time she wasn’t ready to consider adoption, she still thought it was going to happen. And you have to be prepared for it, if you want to adopt.
‘I told my husband, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ And I went to see this child and I wanted to bring him home.’
According to the NHS, in the UK, around 1 in 90 pregnancies is ectopic. This is equivalent to about 11,000 pregnancies a year.
If left untreated, ectopic pregnancy can have fatal consequences, such as life-threatening bleeding.
Jayne has been married to Phil for over 30 years after marrying on September 21, 1990. They now live in East Sussex.
Jayne revealed she underwent surgery after the sad news and tried ‘IVF for a year’, which she described as ‘traumatising’.
Jayne opened up about her journey to adopting her two children.
Jayne explained: ‘A friend of mine had adopted a little boy. She said, “Come see it.” At that time he was not ready to consider adoption. I told my husband, “I don’t know if I can do this.” And I went to see this child and I wanted to bring him home’
He rarely shares photos with his partner, but sometimes uploads family selfies or photos with his two children, Kieran and Jessica.
Jessica turned 17 in 2023 and Jayne marked the day by sharing a photo on Instagram as they posed in front of a car.
Most recently, he shared a photo with his son Kieran, 21, while watching a Notts County match.
Jayne’s skating partner Christopher has been in a relationship with Dancing on Ice star Karen Barber since 2011 and has two sons, Jack, 25, and Sam, 23, with Jill Trenary, the latter. of his ex-wives.
It was Valentine’s Day 1984 when Jayne and Chris skated to victory at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal and earning the highest score ever in a single performance.
And now, 40 years later, the Olympic athletes are permanently hanging up their skates as they announce their retirement.
The British skating duo will embark on one final UK tour next year, which will be their swan song and mark 50 years since they formed their skating partnership in 1975.
Christopher said the couple had agreed it was the “right time” to stop skating because they “are no longer spring chickens” and want to leave while they can still do it “to some extent.”
Their farewell tour, Torvill and Dean: Our Last Dance, will run from April 12 to May 11, 2025 with dates in London, Belfast, Newcastle and Glasgow.
It was Valentine’s Day 1984 when Jayne and Chris skated to victory at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal and earning the highest score ever in a single performance.
40 years on, the Olympians are hanging up their skates for good as they announced their retirement and will embark on one final tour of the UK next year.