Sascha Bailey, the son of acclaimed photographer David Bailey, has shared the joyous news that he and his girlfriend are expecting a baby boy.
This happy announcement marks a new chapter just three years after Sascha considered undergoing a gender transition to become a woman.
At 30, the former model, known for being the offspring of the legendary photographer and model Catherine, struggled deeply with depression during his previous marriage. This period of darkness led him to believe he was experiencing gender dysphoria, prompting him to contemplate hormone replacement therapy as a step toward transitioning.
Now looking forward to welcoming his first child in August with Lucy Brown, a former assistant to political activist Tommy Robinson, Sascha reflects on his journey. He shares that he feels liberated from what he describes as the “worst years” of his life.
Speaking to MailOnline, he revealed, “We’re having a boy. We’re naming him Wolfgang Robert Bailey.”
‘Wolfgang was going to be my name, but my Dad vetoed it. I always wanted it, so now I’m passing it on. And Robert is after Lucy’s uncle, who has passed away.’
From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the Daily Mail’s new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.
Photographer David Bailey’s son Sascha has revealed he and girlfriend are expecting a baby boy; pictured with girlfriend Lucy Brown
As the former model, 30, prepares to welcome his first child in August with Lucy Brown – a former assistant to political activist Tommy Robinson – Sascha is finally out of the ‘worst years of my life’
The milestone is made even sweeter, he said, by the fact that his divorce from Japanese lawyer Mimi Nishikawa, 49, is now finally coming to an end after three tumultuous years.
‘It has been a nightmare but the divorce is in the final stage and is due to go through next month,’ he said. ‘So this will be a whole new beginning. I’ve never felt happier.’
Sascha is currently staying with his parents in London but he and Lucy have found a new flat which they will move into in the next few weeks.
However, marriage isn’t on the cards just yet. ‘I’m still traumatised from the last one,’ Sascha admitted. ‘But with Lucy, I see it in our future. I want to do it properly this time.’
It’s a remarkable turnaround for the model turned art curator, who in 2021 spiralled into a mental health crisis so severe that he considered ending his life.
‘I felt totally lost. I didn’t want to be alive,’ he told the Mail at the time. ‘I convinced myself I must be transgender – that I was living the wrong life in the wrong body. It felt like the only way out.’
Sascha began exploring gender transition online and quickly found an echo chamber in chatrooms and forums.
‘There was so much encouragement to “just do it”,’ he recalled. ‘I saw a private doctor who spent ten minutes with me, said I was trans and gave me a prescription for female hormones. That was it.’
He told MailOnline: ‘We’re having a boy. We’re calling him Wolfgang Robert Bailey. Wolfgang was going to be my name, but my Dad vetoed it. I always wanted it, so now I’m passing it on. And Robert is after Lucy’s uncle, who has passed away’
The milestone is made even sweeter, he said, by the fact that his divorce from Japanese lawyer Mimi Nishikawa, 49, is now finally coming to an end after three tumultuous years; pictured in 2022
Sascha is currently staying with his parents in London but he and Lucy have found a new flat. However, marriage isn’t on the cards just yet for the paid, he said: ‘I’m still traumatised from the last one’
He said he was days away from starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to change gender when something shifted.
‘I just stopped and thought: hang on, this isn’t right. This is trauma. I don’t need a new body – I need to understand why I’m in pain,’ he said.
He credits his famously brusque father – and Lucy, who he met shortly after leaving his marriage – with helping him find his way back to himself.
He said: ‘Lucy saved my life. She helped me feel grounded again. Like I wasn’t broken.’
Now, as he prepares to become a father, Sascha is braced for his unborn child perhaps one day broaching the subject of gender dysphoria themselves.
‘I’d be very against it, obviously,’ Sascha mused. ‘You can’t get a tattoo. You can’t change your gender. It’s really as simple as that.
‘If you give someone one little piece of control, one little thing they can do, they will gravitate towards that little bit of control.
‘Kids have no control over their life. So we have to look after them, we make sure that they don’t make bad decisions.
‘If you allow them to have this one avenue, a lot of them will take it just because it’s a bit of control.’
Now firmly on the other side of that dark chapter, Sascha has become a vocal critic of what he calls the ‘rushed’ approach to gender treatment, especially for young people.
He revealed he’s been contacted by dozens of detransitioners since sharing his experience publicly. ‘So many of them regret it. But the system doesn’t want to hear from them – they’re treated like they’re an inconvenience.’
His memoir, Try to Hit the Pool – which will be released next month – dives deep into his mental health battle, marriage breakdown, aborted transition, and journey back to himself.
Sascha added: ‘The book is a way for me to close that terrible saga of my life.’
Now, Sascha is focused on the arrival of baby Wolfgang – and on building a new life with Lucy, who has won the approval of hard-to-impress Bailey Snr.