Big Brother star Brian Dowling welcomes his second child as he shares photos of the emotional moment he met his 'beautiful daughter' and reveals his 'superstar' sister acted as surrogate again
Big Brother star Brian Dowling has revealed he and husband Arthur have welcomed a second child.
The TV star shared the happy news on Instagram, sharing photos of the moment the couple met their daughter and revealing that his 'superstar' sister Aoife was their surrogate for a second time.
'Please be upstanding for the arrival of our BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, Blu Amar Rose Dowling Gourounlian. Blu was delivered safely on Sunday, June 23rd, at 13:33h, weighing 6lb 2ozs. Myself & Papa are ABSOLUTELY BESOTTED & actually can’t believe we now have two little beauties to keep us on our toes,' he wrote.
Paying tribute to his sister, Brian continued: '@effidy_dowling_, you are a SUPERSTAR & we are, as always, FOREVER GRATEFUL.'
'You stayed so calm, considering it wasn’t exactly the birth plan we had initially hoped for. Baby Blu was adamant to arrive on Sunday, the 23rd of June & nothing or no one was going to stop her Big Sister Blake, you have been activated.'
Big Brother star Brian Dowling has revealed he and husband Arthur have welcomed a second child
The TV star shared the happy news on Instagram, sharing photos of the moment the couple met their daughter and revealing that his 'superstar' sister Aoife was their surrogate for a second time
Several stars offered their congratulations for Brian in the comments, with Una Healy writing: 'Congratulations to you all!' while Steps singer Ian 'H' Watkins wrote: 'CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Tonnes of Love!!!! Xxxx'
Big Brother legend Brian announced in March he was set to become a father for the second time.
The presenter, who shot to fame when he starred on the reality show in 2001, revealed the happy news in an Instagram post.
The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Blake in September 2022, with Brian's sister acting as the surrogate.
Sharing an adorable photo of the toddler wearing a 'promoted to big sister' sweater, he wrote: 'Our family is going to get bigger.
'We are so excited about the arrival of Baby Dowling Gourounlian Number 2 this Summer.'
Brian continued: 'We have already been so blessed with Blake we can’t believe how lucky we are as parents to welcome another baby to our family.
'Blake is going to be the BEST BIG SISTER EVER.'
'Please be upstanding for the arrival of our BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, Blu Amar Rose Dowling Gourounlian' Brian posted on Instagram
Brian also revealed that his sister Aoife acted as their surrogate for the second time, after previously carrying their first child
Big Brother legend Brian announced in March he was set to become a father for the second time
Brian pictured as host of Big Brother in 2011
Blake was welcomed via surrogacy on Thursday September 1 2022, with Brian's sister Aoife agreeing to carry and give birth to Blake for the couple.
Posting a selfie with their newborn child at the time, Brian was dressed in hospital scrubs as he held newborn Blake in his arms - while an emotional Arthur snapped the picture.
'Blake was delivered safely on Thursday September 1st at 14:52pm weighting 7lb 4ozs. We are ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY IN LOVE with her & can’t believe she’s here & is ours ❤️,' he explained.
Continuing to thank the women who contributed to the process, Brian wrote: 'None of this would have been possible without our donor, a woman we have never met or even seen a picture of but has given us the GIFT OF LIFE.'
While preparing to welcome their first child in 2022, Brian revealed that his sister had agreed to be their surrogate.
Speaking to Made by Mammas: The podcast, the star said that he had always wanted to be a father and his sister graciously offered to make his dreams come true by carrying a donor egg.
However the television host revealed that the journey to fatherhood had been a difficult one after he and his husband found out 'things along the way' that meant it would only be possible for one to be the baby's biological father.
The pair have also been targeted with homophobic abuse after starting their journey to parenthood.
While not revealing who will be the biological father of their child, Brian told host Zoe Hardman: 'For me and Arthur it doesn't make a difference'.
The star, whose sister is due to give birth later this year, married professional dancer Arthur in 2015 and said that with them both coming from large families they always wanted children.
'I always wanted to be a parent, I remember I brought my two younger sisters somewhere to Paris, Disney, I was working at Ryanair at the time, I think I would have been no more than 20 or 21 and they were super young. And remember telling someone that I was their parent to get them on a ride'.
He went onto recall the moment sister Aoife made the generous offer.
'In 2020 at Christmas, Aoife was like, "I'm definitely interested in doing this for you," and we kind of thought: "Oh my god, maybe this is something we really need to think about," I said to Arthur, "I'm 44 this year and I said by the age of 45 I just feel I'm going to be too old" –Arthur's two years younger than me'.
And while did not give any details about the donor egg he said: 'We went for a walk and she said: 'I'm really interested in doing this, I really, really want to help you guys out, I think you've done so much for me'.
He added: 'She's single, she's 32, so you know, so experiencing that whole thing would be an amazing feeling. But then not having the responsibility.
'So, the way it happened it was so organic, and it was Aoife that initiated these conversations and that was very reassuring for us.'
He went on to reveal that the couple had previously lost two embryo after doctors concluded they were not viable.
'I was so sad because to me it's not just an egg and sperm, this is an embryo, and they knew the gender and for me that was a loss. I know that sounds really dramatic. But for me that that was a loss'.
While preparing to welcome their first child in 2022, Brian revealed that his sister had agreed to be their surrogate
The star went on to discuss the positive feedback the trio have received since announcing the news.
He said: 'My sister she went for a spray tan and she was nude and the woman said "Oh your Bran Dowling's sister – what you doing is amazing."'
But with the positive also comes with negative as he said that heterosexual couples don't face the same scrutiny.
'There are people out there that can't abide the fact that two men who chose to be gay are forcing this you know, "raping a womb", "renting a womb", "forcing this woman into a situation."
'We've had that from stuff like, "well I hope she doesn't get cancer from the hormones", "men shouldn't be allowed to have a baby", "you're disgusting."
'On the day that we chose to be gay, we give up the right to be parents… But you know, that is based on pure homophobia, that's all that is.
'I know people who have done down the surrogacy route who are heterosexual and they don't get it. Gay men or gay women do it? Everyone has an opinion.'
