Ex-Emmerdale Gemma Atkinson shares 'awful' post-pregnancy ordeal and overcoming it

The mother-of-two, who played Carly Hope successful Emmerdale, admitted to crying implicit her changing signifier from gestation and C-sections

Actress Gemma Atkinson has opened up astir her turbulent narration with assemblage image, urging radical to beryllium alert of 1 thing. The mother-of-two, who played Carly Hope successful Emmerdale, admitted to crying implicit her changing signifier from pregnancy and C-sections, but present views this arsenic a affirmative thing.

"When I was large with my daughter, Mia ended up being an exigency C-section," she said successful a caller occurrence of her podcast, The Overshare. "...you don't look astatine your scar for a bully fewer days, they alteration the dressing and whatever.

"And the archetypal clip erstwhile I got home, due to the fact that I was successful infirmary for a week, I came location I retrieve peeling disconnected the C-section bandage and lasting successful the mirror. It was truthful swollen and truthful bruised, I physically started crying thinking, 'oh my deity this is awful, this large chopped connected my body'."

Fast guardant to 2023, and Gemma gave commencement to her 2nd child, Thiago, who was besides birthed via C-section. Despite the erstwhile 'shock and upset' implicit her scars, she said everything wholly flipped erstwhile considering it successful a antithetic light.

"Now, I've had a 2nd C-section again, not an exigency 1 but a necessity, due to the fact that Thiago decided to poo wrong maine portion I was trying to get him out," she quipped. "I present look astatine it arsenic that's wherever my children gained their life. How susceptible was my body?

"The archetypal clip I looked astatine it, the daze and the upset, I present consciousness a spot ashamed of, that I viewed it that mode erstwhile it did specified an amazing, fantastic thing."

Beyond her scars, Gemma besides revealed that she gained implicit 3 stone, 'loads of cellulite' and galore agelong marks during this period. While she wasn't excessively keen connected this either, her hubby Strictly pro Gorka Márquez 'couldn't get enough'.

She went on: "When I was pregnant, I enactment connected three-and-a-half stone, and I developed loads of cellulite and I was like, 'oh my gosh!' Gorka wasn't bothered, helium was like, 'more the merrier', helium couldn't get enough.

"He was like, 'you look beautiful', and helium loved it. It was successful my ain mind. My agelong marks present connected my backside are going to beryllium known arsenic my tiger stripes. I person tiger stripes due to the fact that I've grown, housed and delivered 2 children."

Now 40, Gemma is fitter and much assured than ever before. In December, she, told Women's Health that she wanted her assemblage to beryllium 'functional', adding: "That’s ever my purpose with training. It’s never, 'I request to acceptable into a definite size,' it’s 'How tin I stay strong?'

"Especially going into your forties; perimenopause volition footwear in…I privation my assemblage to beryllium functional." However, she encouraged radical to beryllium alert that everyone's way to fittingness whitethorn look different.

On the podcast, she said: "I'm asked a batch connected my socials however galore calories I devour a day. I mean, it's a lot, I devour a batch of nutrient but I'm doing a batch of expenditure. I'm walking, I'm training. If you enactment idiosyncratic who's five-foot-two who works successful an bureau 9 hours a time connected the aforesaid calories arsenic me, they would person wholly antithetic results, due to the fact that it is each babelike connected the person.

"And that's different thing, I deliberation determination is not capable awareness. Everyone assumes one-size-fits-all."