POP star Mollie King has admitted that the birth of her daughter Annabella was a bittersweet moment for her family.
She and cricket star Stuart Broad welcomed Annabella, now three, in November 2022 – at a time Mollie’s father Stephen was dying from a brain tumour.
The Saturdays singer-turned-Radio 1 host has revealed that the sad circumstances gave her the incentive to book a C-section for the birth – to make sure Stephen would be able to meet his granddaughter before he passed.
Stephen died 10 days later, but got to meet Annabella thanks to Mollie’s decision.
Chatting to Giovanna Fletcher on the Happy Mum podcast this week, Mollie, 38, revealed that she learnt of her father’s illness when she was six months pregnant.
“It happened in August. And I had seen my dad that morning. We had gone out for a walk with my dog and with Stuart as well. And everything seemed pretty fine, pretty normal,” she recalled.
“And then that evening, I had a call from my sister to say Dad’s not been very well at all – he’s gone into hospital.
“I was like, Oh my gosh. Basically, over the next few days, we got the news that he had a brain tumour, which is obviously shocking because there was nothing – there were no signs.
“And you just don’t know how to process it.”
Mollie went on: “I think that I was trying to really get my head around it and come to terms with it. But also, I’m in this stage of like – I’m pregnant, this is meant to be such a magical happy time.
“I was really worried that he wasn’t going to meet Annabella. I was like, I can’t have him not meet my kids.”
Mollie – who has since welcomed a second daughter – reflected on how her father had been a very “present granddad” for her nephews, and couldn’t picture her own child never knowing him.
“I was like, I just can’t have him not meet my little girl. It can’t be like that,” she continued. “And so… because of that… I’d booked in to have a C-section.
“I was like, I just need to know that she is going to come out at a safe time, but I need her to meet dad.”
Mollie admotted that, after she made the decision, she felt self-conscious telling the hospital staff of her reasons; but that they were happy to accommodate the C-section, booking her in for it right away.
“I remember them saying to me at the hospital, they were like, you know, why are you choosing to do this? And I found it really hard to talk about at the time,” the All Fired Up songstress went on.
“I didn’t want to talk about it. I was like, oh, you know, just, I think it would be nice to know when she’s coming and all of this.
“And then eventually I said, look, my dad is dying and we’ve only got a few weeks. I just need her out now. And they’re like, totally get it. Completely understand – let’s book you in for this date. And it was amazing.”
Mollie admitted that it was “really difficult” to then lose her father 10 days later, and says she has put off getting married to Stuart because she can’t imagine the day without her father there.
“Elements like walking down the aisle without him I still struggle with. There needs to be a gap so I can process it all,” she previously told The Times.
Mollie was one fifth of The Saturdays – they released four studio albums and 18 singles between 2008 and 2014 before going on hiatus. Mollie then turned to radio presenting.
She welcomed her second daughter, Liliana, with Stuart in January 2025.