Oti Mabuse and Richard Coles share an emotional moment in the jungle (Picture: ITV)
In a heartbreaking moment, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse shared the ‘hell’ she went through after the birth of her daughter.
During tonight’s episode of I’m A Celebrity, she held back tears as she discussed her experience with Reverend Richard Coles.
Oti, 34, announced the birth of her first child with partner Marius Iepure during Christmas last year after having difficulty conceiving.
A few weeks later she shared that her bundle of joy was actually 10 weeks premature, which the professional dancer has now revealed was an incredibly traumatic time.
In the chat with Rev Richard, Oti tried not to cry as she recalled watching her newborn daughter being kept in a neonatal incubator.
The Dancing on Ice judge was not allowed to hold her child so used her voice to connect in those important early days.
Oti teared up while speaking about her daughter’s birth (Picture: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
The dancer said she would sing to her daughter every day (Picture: ITV)
‘They find comfort in your voice,’ Oti said. ‘For two months, every single day we’d sing church music.’
Rev Richard empathised with her story, getting emotional as he remembered a little boy who was ‘only just alive’ when he was baptised.
He said: ‘I just remember he was this tiny little pulse of life, and David (his late partner) got a pipette of water and we blessed it, and we baptised him and he survived, and now he’s a healthy young footballer, which is great.
‘But I just felt so… it was such a precious thing.’
After the duo hugged, Oti continued: ‘They are (precious), my daughter was really, really tiny when she was born. It’s hell.
Oti and her partner Marius welcomed their daughter last Christmas(Picture: Oti Mabuse/Insta)
She shed a tear while they talked (Picture: ITV)
Richard said other campmates often came to him for emotional chats (Picture: ITV)
‘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.’
The worst part of it all for the new mum was that ‘every night, you need to leave them, you need to leave your baby in someone else’s hands.’
Oti became tearful as she and Rev Richard chatted, asking him to ‘say a prayer over’ her youngster which she would ‘really love’.
In a touching moment, he said he had ‘already said a prayer for her’ and they embraced again while Oti became more emotional.
Rev Richard told Oti about the death of his civil partner David Coles, who was also a priest, saying he still misses him.
The duo chatted for a long time about faith and hardship (Picture: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
Rev Richard shared how he was still coping with the death of his partner David
(Picture: James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock)
Coles died in 2019 at age 43 and the celebrity vicar said: ‘I miss him. He’s just left a massive hole in my life and I’m living my life around that loss.’
He shared that his partner had died from liver disease related to alcoholism, calling the moment between him and Oti ‘profound’.
The vicar was a contestant on Strictly in 2017 and partnered with Dianne Buswell, although the duo was knocked out in the second week.
That year Oti was paired with paralympic sprinter Jonnie Peacock, getting eliminated during the Blackpool show.
Tomorrow’s I’m A Celebrity episode will see N-Dubz legend Tulisa take on Bushtucker Trial Shock Around The Clock.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX.
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