Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou revealed on Friday that she has lost her baby late in her pregnancy.
The second son of Nicodemou, 37 and her husband, restaurateur Chrys Xipolitas, baby Harrison was stillborn at eight months on Thursday.
The Home and Away actress gave a statement via Channel Seven on Thursday afternoon.
“It is with great sadness that we need to share some news with you,” she said in the statement.
“Our baby boy Harrison was delivered stillborn on Thursday 7 August 2014. We appreciate your love and support as we mourn the loss of our precious son.
We understand we have lived some of our lives in the public eye.
“But we respectfully ask for privacy at this difficult and extremely painful time so we can grieve and heal.”
The couple announced the pregnancy in March this year, that came as a ‘complete surprise’ after they had struggled to conceive son Johnas, who is turning two this month.
Johnas was conceived through IVF, after the couple was trying to conceive for a year prior to that.
“For it to happen so quickly after we struggled for so long last time is a really nice surprise and we feel really, really lucky,” she said.
Nicodemou had planned to be written out of Home and Away so she could go on maternity leave. Recently, she also spoke about her expanding family, saying, “I’m really excited for Johnas to have a little brother or sister and for us to be a complete family. It’s a really nice time and I feel really blessed to be pregnant again.
“I think you’re blessed every day to have a child in your life. My son is just amazing, he’s gorgeous and I love spending time with him. You can’t imagine loving someone else just as much, but like my husband says, you just grow another heart. I’m really looking forward to it.”