Rebecca Adlington, a gold medalist at the Olympics, has experienced a lot of joy and heartache both in the pool and in the studio. The Mirror examines the athele’s life now that she has been given a life-changing illness.
Rebecca Adlington, an Olympian, has had a lot of heartache in her private life despite her career’s incredible success and recent setback to her health.
The BBC Sports presenter and Olympic gold medallist has revealed she was diagnosed with coeliac disease in a new video shared on Coeliac UK’s Instagram page. The 36-year-old Olympic swimmer talked about her recent diagnosis before asking followers to sign a petition for gluten-free prescriptions.
If you consume gluten, your immune system attacks your own tissues, causing damage to your small intestine and prevents your body from absorbing nutrients properly. Bloating, indigestion, constipation, fatigue, and diarrhoea are symptoms that include stomachaches. Pasta, cakes, cereals, most bread varieties, some sauces, breakfast cereals, and other foods contain gluten.
Hello everyone, Rebecca said in the video. I’ve been quickly taught how crucial gluten-free prescriptions are for managing coeliac disease as someone who has just been diagnosed with the condition.
However, some regions are completely eliminating these prescriptions. Please sign and share the petition today as Coeliac UK is handing a petition to Number 10 to ensure our voices are heard.
Miscarriage heartache
Rebecca has had coeliac disease, but other life-changing health issues have also occurred. Rebecca shared her heartache over the tragic passing of her stillborn daughter last year.
In response to her third child, Harper was still born in 2023 at 20 weeks, and she admitted to “hating]her] body.”
I had to accept it very hard. I’m very logical, so I was interested in finding out why this had occurred, but the post-mortem [in May] revealed that sometimes events just happen. She told The Sunday Times, “I have to accept that somehow and stop worrying about it.”
At 20 weeks, Rebecca and her husband Andy Parsons received devastating news about their baby’s passing during a routine ultrasound. After the scan, Rebecca shared the heartbreaking news with her fans on Instagram, saying, “I don’t really have the words right now, but unfortunately we went for our 20-week scan this week and they found no heartbeat.
Harper and I gave birth on Friday at 7 o’clock.” We spent time with her while we were holding her. We will always remember her and be forever in our hearts. Following a previous miscarriage that Rebecca had revealed in August of this year, Rebecca made the news.
Divorce
Harry Needs and Rebecca tied the knot in 2014, but they split after only 18 months of dating. Harry admitted to telling Rebecca about his sexuality a year before making the decision to share his life-changing news in 2020 and claimed he had come out as bisexual.
After he appeared to her a year after their separation, Rebecca allegedly had a very supportive relationship with him. He continued, “I never felt like I deceived her because I loved her and, as I’ve already said, I never had the opportunity to discover my true selves.”
After previously admitting to having “a lot of arguments” as parents of Summer’s daughter, the former couple called time on their union. Five years after their initial encounter as young professional swimmers, the couple tied the knot in Venice in August 2014.
Although their marriage only lasted a year and a half, Rebecca confirmed the split was “amicable” in a statement posted on her website. We confirm our separation, she said, “after much thought and sadness.” We continue to be close friends despite the amicable terms. Our main priority and commitment is to raise our gorgeous daughter Summer, and we respect one another as we move forward.
After Rebecca openly expressing her concerns for new mothers, Rebecca admitted that being a parent is “absolutely hard work, and anyone who says it’s easy is lying. There have been numerous arguments between Harry and I. We lack patience. Many mothers have six or eight months off. I had to return to work after two months.
finding love once more
Rebecca found love again, with facilities manager Andy Parsons. The swimming pro admitted she’d been nervous to try out dating apps, but ended up connecting with her husband Andy after just two weeks of swiping on Bumble.
In a 2021 episode of Loose Women, Rebecca explained how terrified she was of their early relationship and how she didn’t want to date anyone online. And I just realized that’s how people today meet people because it’s so uncommon to just bump into someone and meet them.
So I sat down and said, “Oh, I’ll give it a try to see how it goes,” and I sat down for a while, matched up with my partner, and we just got to know each other. After two weeks of chatter, we met up and went on a date, and the rest is history. We are now sat here with a baby!
Rebecca and Andy met their son Albie at Cheshire’s stunning Scarlet Hall manor house after three years of dating, and the couple exchanged the words “I do.”
co-parenting and family life
With her current husband, Andy Parsons, Rebecca has two children: a 10-year-old daughter named Summer, a 10-year-old girl from her previous union to Harry Needs, and a 4-year-old son named Albie.
The athlete has previously spoken out about the difficulties of raising a family with her ex-husband. Rebecca and her ex-boyfriend Harry navigate co-parenting their daughter in 2020 when Summer was just five years old.
She claimed at the time that people would expect her to be harsh with her daughter because of her strict prior Olympic training, but she later admitted to being the soft parent and that Harry is the “bad cop” of their parenting double act.
We refer to both good and bad cop. Everyone assumed that I would be the bad cop when she was born because I have a strong sports background. I’m like, “No, let’s do it, we can do this,” I say. She said, “That is my kind of mentality.”
You must be like that to be a sportsperson. And everyone seemed to say, “Bec is going to be the bad cop.” However, I’m by no means the bad cop. I’m accused of being too summery. But I can’t stop myself because I have a maternal instinct that won’t let me.
Sporting talent clearly runs in the family as both youngsters love to swim and play football. “Summer is part of a swimming club, and she’s got really into football recently,” Rebecca wrote in her Olympic Games Column for HELLO! last year.
She never stops running, swimming, or jumping because she is so active. I’m not sure whether she would want to enter that intense environment, but she adores it wholeheartedly, “penned the star.”
Albie’s mother claims that he is “obsessed with” cycling, swimming, and football and that he is “so competitive.” I’m not sure if he won’t play any sport because he’s so competitive, but it does worry me because I don’t want him to end up being such a terrible loser. And you don’t always succeed in sports, she said.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at the Miscarriage Association. You can call them on 01924 200799 or email info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk
Source: Mirror
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