GB News Presenter, 59, Reveals Pregnancy Live on Air

GB News presenter Dr Renee Hoenderkamp has revealed she is pregnant again at 59, eight years after welcoming her second child.

The panellist announced on Saturday that she is expecting a baby girl, nearly four decades after giving birth to her first child, a son, at the age of 21.

Dr Hoenderkamp became a mother for the second time 30 years later, when she was 51.

Her daughter Alice is now seven, while her eldest child, Calum, is 37 and has become a father himself.

The presenter said her third baby was conceived using frozen eggs after she underwent three rounds of IVF treatment at a clinic in Poland.

She shared the news during a discussion about concerns among women and girls in Piddington, Oxfordshire, where the government plans to accommodate 1,200 male asylum seekers at a converted military base roughly half a mile from the village.

Dr Hoenderkamp said: ‘I’m going to talk tonight about Piddington, but before I talk about Piddington, I’m going to tell you why. When I heard Angela Rayner’s announcement in the week, I was viscerally angry with it. I couldn’t believe it.

‘The reason for that is because obviously I am a woman, but I am also a mother, and I’m a mother of a grown-up boy and a very young girl.

‘And I have some news to break to the panel today that they’re not aware of, or anybody else of that matter, is that I’m actually going to be a mother of three shortly, and I am currently 12 weeks pregnant with my next child.’

GB News presenter Dr Renee Hoenderkamp has announced she is expecting another child at 59, eight years after the birth of her second child

The panel reacted with visible surprise, with one member saying it was ‘the most shocked I’ve been on air since [Ali] Khamenei was assassinated’

The presenter, pictured during her pregnancy with Alice, said she is expecting a baby girl nearly 40 years after having her son at 21

Dr Hoenderkamp gave birth to her second child at 51, 30 years after her first. Alice is now seven

Pictured with Alice at five weeks, Dr Hoenderkamp said she has more time, patience and self-belief than she did when she had Calum 30 years ago. He is now 37 and has a daughter of his own

Her fellow panellists appeared stunned. One said the announcement was ‘the most shocked I’ve been on air since [Ali] Khamenei was assassinated’.

Later in the programme, the panel presented Dr Hoenderkamp with a gender-reveal cake decorated with pink and blue icing.

She explained that she had travelled to Poland for IVF after UK clinics declined to treat her, as they generally refuse treatment for women aged around 55 and above.

Dr Hoenderkamp said: ‘I’m not going to pretend it’s been an easy journey, because it hasn’t.

‘It took three attempts. I’ve sat on this show knowing that the journey I’ve just done didn’t work.’

She also spoke about the criticism she faced because of her advanced maternal age.

The presenter continued: ‘I had criticism that I was selfish. “What if I died in five years?”. Well I keep myself very fit as you know so hopefully that won’t happen, but it might.

‘And my point in this. Alice has a wonderful life.

‘She adores her life and I hope this child will be the same. What would be better? That they would never be given the chance of life?’

Alice was born just two months before Dr Hoenderkamp’s granddaughter Isabella, and the presenter has previously said the two girls are extremely close.

Writing for the Daily Mail in 2023, Dr Hoenderkamp said she had found it easier to have a child at 51 than at 21.

She wrote: ‘The truth, as I discovered, is that pregnancy – at any age – can either be wonderfully easy, or hard, problematic and complex.

‘It’s a very individual thing and age is just one small factor.

‘Yes, older mothers are at risk of genetic complications and potential problems, but the monitoring and testing process is very sophisticated now and that is hugely reassuring.’