Jayne Torvill recently opened up about her fertility struggle and her journey with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and adoption. Torvill once again joined the judging panel for 2021 Dancing on Ice. As she prepares to watch celebrities and their partners compete for the top spot, Torvill talked about life off the ice, and what the journey to motherhood has held for her.
The new season of Dancing on Ice may have premiered Sunday night, but Torvill, 60, is making headlines for another reason. This time, she’s talking about her struggle with IVF and fertility. According to Hello! Magazine, Torvill is married to Phil Christensen, an American sound engineer, and together they are parents to Kieran and Jessica, both of whom were adopted. Torvill admits that for a male figure skater, starting a family is much easier because it would not affect his skating. For her, she had to quit and left the ice-skating world in her 40s. She revealed she quickly got pregnant and at first thought it was fine, but then an ultrasound showed she had an ectopic pregnancy. At first, she didn’t know what it meant. She asked doctors how the baby would come out, but they ultimately told her the baby would not. She was told the embryo was growing in one of her fallopian tubes, and that’s when she realized they would not be able to do anything. So, she underwent surgery and turned to IVF.
Torvill says she and Christensen tried IVF for about a year which was “traumatic in itself,” reports IVF Babble. She admits that women understand how traumatic IVF can be. One day, Torvill’s friend told her she had adopted a little boy and wanted her to come and meet him. At that point, the former Olympic skater says she was not looking into adoption and still thought she would get pregnant. She told her husband she was not sure if she could meet her friend’s son. She also had no idea that it would be her friend’s encouragement that would lead them to adoption. So, when she saw the little boy, she instantly wanted to bring him home. From there, they started the process to adopt children of their own, which later led them to Kieran and Jessica.
Torvill had been in the spotlight, along with her former skating partner Christopher Dean, especially during the 1984 Olympics when they won gold in Sarajevo. The two are still good friends today as Dean is also a judge on Dancing on Ice.
Sources: Hello! Magazine, IVF Babble