Emily Andre shared she had emergency surgery after giving birth to youngest daughter Arabella in 2024, developing a rare hernia that doctors warned could cause complications if she got pregnant again
Matt Jackson Trendswatch Content Editor
07:00, 08 Apr 2026
Emily Andre has opened up about a health ordeal after her third pregnancy(Image: PA)
Emily Andre delivered a straightforward answer when questioned about expanding her family. The NHS GP is mother to three children with pop star Peter Andre.
The 36-year-old described experiencing a “horrible” period following the arrival of her youngest daughter Arabella in 2024. Emily suffered from an uncommon form of hernia which she described as her “bowels fell out”.
Medical professionals initially worried the condition might escalate into a “real emergency”, resulting in her requiring urgent surgical intervention. Speaking on The Therapy Crouch podcast with hosts Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy, Emily disclosed how the experience has deterred her from having additional children.
Responding to Abbey’s question about whether she’d finished having babies, Emily stated: “A hundred percent done.
“This time I had quite a difficult time after she was born, I had to have emergency surgery. She was only a week old and she was being prised from my arms, it was horrible.”
Peter and Emily share three children(Image: PeterAndre/Instagram)
“The doctor said, ‘Are you going to have any more?’ And I said no, and he said he definitely wouldn’t recommend it. That was enough for me.”
Emily revealed that doctors warned her another pregnancy could trigger complications with the hernia. She said: “I had a really rare type of hernia, which was quite severe. They said if I get pregnant again it’s going to stretch all the repairwork back out.”
Peter commented: “I have never, ever seen you like that before, I was really worried. You’ve taught me not to be so worried, because you being a doctor, but this was horrible. You went through it, big time.”
Emily has previously disclosed that medical professionals told her they had “never seen anything like” her hernia. In an interview with the Mirror in 2025, she explained: “All the consultants I’ve seen said, ‘We’ve never seen this in our whole career.’ And I just think, oh, for God’s sake, why did it have to happen to me?
“I basically developed a really rare type of hernia that was quite large. And this is actually quite disgusting to talk about but basically, part of my bowels were kind of in the wrong place. That’s essentially the way to say it.
“And the type of hernia that it was can strangle the bowel quite easily, and then that becomes a real emergency. I knew things weren’t right after she was born, because I had a big, huge lump in my tummy – kind of sticking right out. So they got me back after a week to follow up, and they said, ‘We need to get the surgeons to come and look at you.’
Emily explained she had to have surgery after her daughter’s birth
“And this was in the evening. The surgeon literally looked and said, ‘You need to come into hospital – like, now.’ And I was like, what do you mean? I just did not want to..”
At the time, Emily was nursing her daughter and simply wanted to return home, concerned about Arabella’s care while she underwent surgery. The difficult experience did, however, result in one poignant moment. During an appearance on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, Emily recalled a touching moment.
She explained: “So yeah, there was one thing that made me smile. I got into theatre and was lying on the table, and the porter who had brought me across was so lovely. He was talking to me – obviously I was in floods of tears – and he said, ‘Oh, you know, I brought Pete here into this theatre when he had…”
She went on to reveal the significance of the location, saying: “So the way Pete and I met was that my dad had operated on him. We were friends for years after that – and it was in the same theatre. And the porter said, ‘This was exactly where he lay. This is the room where he met your dad.’ And I was like, oh. It was just such a nice moment of like, okay… that’s a really nice thing.”
