Tina Malone, 54, to have another baby via surrogate
The TV star is also going to choose the sex of her baby.
Actress Tina Malone has said she is going to have another child at the age of 54 via a surrogate.
The former Shameless star has a 35-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and in 2013, at the age of 50, Tina welcomed daughter Flame with husband Paul Chase, 35.
Tina said she knows people will criticise her decision to have a child at her age, but that she does not care as she is doing it for her family.
Due to her husband’s fears over her having a baby at her age they have opted for surrogacy, which also gives them the option of choosing the child’s gender.
Tina told the Sunday People: “Some will say I am selfish and irresponsible for having another child at 54.
“They will moralise and abuse me – even more so for selecting the sex of our baby – and everyone is entitled to their opinion.”
But she said did not care what anyone thought: “I am doing this for Flame and for my husband, not just myself.
“I am healthy, of sound mind, solvent – and a bloody brilliant mother.”
Tina and former soldier Paul, who married in 2010, have embryos still frozen in Cyprus after she underwent IVF treatment in 2013.
Tina said: “We still have eight embryos frozen in Cyprus. And whenever we went there I’d cry, moan and say to Paul: ‘Please let me have another one.’
“But Paul won’t let me risk my life.”
While pregnant with Flame, the TV star developed life-threatening pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects women in up to 6% of pregnancies, according to the NHS, and is characterised by dangerously high blood pressure.
Her husband said: “I couldn’t let Tina risk another pregnancy. Flame and I love her too much.”
Tina is known for playing Mimi Maguire in the Bafta award-winning Channel 4 drama Shameless, as well as appearing in Brookside and Dinnerladies.
