‘It’s cruel’: Anton Du Beke speaks out about wife’s endometriosis as he admits ‘I’d never heard of it’

Strictly star Anton Du Beke has shared insight into his wife Hannah's "cruel" endometriosis diagnosis, revealing that because little is known about the condition, he'd "never heard of it" before.

Appearing on Davina McCall's Begin Again podcast, Anton opened up about meeting his "amazing" wife in 2012. "We've barely been separate ever since," he says.

"She's so good, she's so clever and so brilliant - she's amazing," Anton says fondly of Hannah. Although he'd previously been unsure whether he'd have children, Anton shares he'd always said, "If I am going to have children, it would be with the person I'd want to spend the rest of my life with."

He continues, "And then I met Hannah, the one I'd like to spend the rest of my life with." However, sadly, he found out, "The irony of it all is that she suffers from endometriosis and couldn't have children."

It's common for endometriosis sufferers to experience a multitude of symptoms, including severe period pain, heavy periods, pelvic area pain, extreme tiredness, and pain or bleeding in other areas.

For Hannah, she had the "perverse" symptom of bloating. Anton explains, "Some of the side effects are you get swelling," adding, "But in a sort of unique way that makes you look like you're pregnant."

Davina interjects with, "It's so cruel, isn't it?" with Anton saying it made him want to say, "Mother nature, can we have a chat about this?" for making an infertile woman appear pregnant as a side effect of the condition causing her infertility.

Anton also reveals that because of a lack of conversation happening around endometriosis, "I never even knew existed before I met Hannah."

"I'm not an unintelligent man," he says, explaining that he keeps his "ears open" and knows about "lots about lots of things," but had "never even heard the word endometriosis."

He continues, "Not because I wasn't listening, but because nobody talked about it." Describing the condition, Anton says, "It's debilitating, it's is painful, there's huge swelling, infertility problems - and what do we know about it? Not very much."

Vehemently, he says, "This is something that needs to be addressed." Despite thinking they wouldn't be able to have children, Anton and Hannah entered the process of IVF.

"We were hugely fortunate," he says of the experience, adding, "We we did it on the on the first go, and the result of course was, the magic that is."

Anton and Hannah's twins, George and Henrietta, are now nine-years-old. "I know I say this because they're my children," Anton says, concluding, "But they are Mary Poppins, and are practically perfect in every possible way."