Comedian Katherine Ryan is expecting her fourth child, it has been confirmed.
The 41-year-old Canadian star is understood to be pregnant with her husband Bobby Kootstra, with whom she has been in a civil partnership since 2019.
The pregnancy announcement, which was confirmed to Hello! magazine, comes after the comedian has been open about her desire to expand her family. "I would still like a fourth baby," she previously said on the U+W TV show At Home With Katherine Ryan.
She added: "We are so blessed to have the kids that we do have. Having children is not for everyone, but I personally really like making people. I think it's a superpower, if you can do it."
Katherine Ryan has shared she is pregnant with her fourth child
PAThe new arrival will join Ryan's three existing children. She shares son Fred, three, and daughter Fenna, two, with Bobby, whilst her eldest child is 15-year-old Violet from a previous relationship.
The comedian has been remarkably candid about her fertility journey. Last year, she revealed she had suffered three miscarriages in five years, describing the pregnancy loss she experienced whilst on tour as one of the most "difficult" times.
"We lost another pregnancy in September at the beginning of the tour, which was fine, and then it was difficult, and then it became fine again," she said on her Telling Everybody Everything podcast.
Ryan discussed the practical considerations she made after her September miscarriage. "I'm totally fine about it now.
Katherine Ryan's news follows recent health woes
PA"And not to be shrewd, but I looked in the calendar and I thought, 'Oh, we would be due to have that baby in March, and I thought, that's fine, I can do the Irish dates of my tour and land and I have a few specific dates off, I can make sure I have the baby on this specific day and then do the London dates of the Palladium with a small baby."
She also revealed the medical challenges she faced with her miscarriages.
"I never find out at home, it's always a surprise, and then I always have to have surgical intervention, meaning it does not resolve itself on its own," she explained.
The comedian has previously addressed the challenges facing women over 40 who want children.
"It's not that surprising that over-40 women have fewer follicles than we once did," she said on her television programme, whilst also noting concerns about declining male fertility.
Ryan has also previously spoken about her approach to parenting, particularly regarding her eldest daughter Violet.
"I've decided to spoil my daughter as much as I can and give her really extravagant Valentine's, I like fly her wherever she wants to go, I get her VIP tickets to anything that I can, because then I feel like she won't be impressed by someone's dusty son down the line," she revealed.
The comedian is set to embark on her Battleaxe comedy tour this month. The pregnancy revelation comes just two months after Ryan shared she would be undergoing surgery for cancer.
Katherine Ryan recently underwent a procedure for melanoma
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In March, she explained on her podcast: "If you know about melanoma, you'll know it is a deadly form of skin cancer, it does spread quickly - and I just felt like this mole wasn't right.
"It's on my arm... I shared pictures on my social media, I went in (to the doctor) and I wanted the doctor to remove a bigger piece of it and stitch it up in a straight line.
"But even when he looked at it, he was like, 'It's not melanoma, totally fine, I'll do the shave and send it away for histology, and then if it comes back with anything we missed then we'll do the deeper cut.'
"And even then I was like, 'Just do the deeper cut, just do it,' and he was like, 'Well, it's half the price for you, you don't need the deeper cut, let's just take it and we'll test it.'
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Katherine Ryan has three other children
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I was like, 'Alright, fine.'""So he rang me today and it did come back melanoma.
"And it's early melanoma and he was shocked, he was like, 'It doesn't look like melanoma but it is melanoma and you need to come back on Monday.'"
A week later, Ryan shared that she had completed her cancer surgery, posting a photo of her arm with a plaster on Instagram.
The comedian captioned the image with the word "Done" alongside a tick and a red heart emoji.
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