'Everything in life is meant to be'

Soap star Stephanie Davis talks exclusively to OK! about her "roller-coaster" pregnancy, finding love and plans for the future

- SHELLEY SPADONI

'WE CROSSED PATHS JUST WHEN WE NEEDED TO FIND EACH OTHER'

When Stephanie Davis arrives at our exclusive shoot, a small baby bump visible under a summer dress, with her partner Joe McKalroy and son Caben, she looks remarkably fresh, given what she’s been through of late.

The former Hollyoaks and Corrie star, 31, has been on “a roller coaster” since finding out she was expecting – but is praying that the worst is over, so the couple can enjoy the rest of their pregnancy journey from now on.

And the bubbly actress, who suffered a devastating miscarriage in May 2022, is philosophical. A small tattoo on the back of her arm that says, “If you’re reading this, it’s going to be OK,” seems particularly poignant.

Steph and Joe, 27, who met during a group therapy session in 2021 when they were both in a dark place, are clearly smitten. At one point, the Merseyside native admits with a giggle, “I just love him so much.”

As the pair reveal exclusively to OK! that they are expecting a boy – a little brother to Caben, seven, who is Stephanie’s son from a previous relationship – they are visibly delighted. But, as Steph, who is 16 weeks pregnant and due in January, admits, it’s been a tough road.

“After my previous miscarriage, I thought, ‘God’s going to be good to us, it’ll be plain sailing.’ But that’s not how life works,” admits Steph, with a wry smile. “It’s been… a roller coaster.”

The couple had been trying for a baby for two years and were going down the fertility route, getting tests, when Steph fell pregnant naturally.

“I did the pregnancy test at my mother-in-law’s. I could not believe it. I’ve done a million tests over the past two years and videoed them – the one time I didn’t, it was positive!”