Declan Donnelly Has Confirmed That He And His Wife Ali Are Expecting Their First Child

ITV

The past week has been a difficult one for Ant and Dec, but at least there is some happy news to round it all off.

Yesterday, reports in The Sun said that Dec and his wife Ali Astall are expecting their first child, which the presenter has now confirmed in a cute Instagram post.

He wrote:

Just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely messages. The news has sneaked out a little earlier than we hoped but Ali and I are delighted to be expecting our first child. Thanks for all the love, we really appreciate it. D x

Ali worked as Dec’s manager for ten years before they started dating in 2014, marrying a year later – they’ve spoken about their desire for children for a few years now, saying kids were “absolutely one of the things on the cards”.

The announcement comes after Dec’s co-host and best friend Ant McPartlin checked into rehab last week for the second time after being arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

While this weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Takeaway was cancelled, Dec confirmed that he will be hosting the last two episodes alone for the first time in the duo’s 30 year career.

“Whilst I never thought I’d be in this position, after much discussion and careful consideration we’ve decided that the remaining two shows will go ahead,” he said.

We made a promise to take hundreds of deserving winners to Florida to watch the series finale, and we will honour that. Everyone at ITV and the Takeaway team feels we owe it to the audience to complete the series.

• Ant And Dec
• celebrity babies