‘Xaya has filled a massive void'

In an emotional interview, former Love Island star Malin Andersson says her newborn daughter is the light at the end of the tunnel as she discusses love, loss and her experience of domestic abuse

- RHIANNA BENSON

When Malin Andersson was rushed into theatre for an emergency C-section in January, her heart raced. It was the same hospital in which she had lost her first daughter Consy three years earlier – and she feared she was reliving a nightmare. Back then, she was forced to kiss her four-week-old girl goodbye after she died following medical complications, having been born seven weeks early. This time, after struggling to dilate more than 5cm, the 29-year-old had to undergo an emergency C-section again.

Recalling her fear that day, the author, advocate and body positivity campaigner exclusively tells new, “They gave Jared and me a letter that we had to sign regarding what would happen if I died during labour, which caused me to start panicking and hyperventilating.

“I was in the exact same hospital – in the exact same room – that I’d given birth to Consy in. I lay there, terrified, on the operating table being completely triggered by traumatic memories. Jared was worried too as my heart rate kept dropping, but he put his head next to mine and comforted me.

“The next minute, they pulled her from me and she immediately started crying. It was the biggest relief because with Consy’s birth, she didn’t make a sound. Holding her in my arms for the first time was magical – the most beautiful feeling ever.”