I'm A Celebrity's Mike Tindall reveals details of wife Zara's dramatic home birth

11 November 2022, 12:39

Mike Tindall reveals Zara Tindall nearly choked him to death during Lucas' delivery

By Naomi Bartram

Mike Tindall has opened up on Zara Phillips giving birth on the bathroom floor during a chat on I'm A Celebrity.

During last night’s I’m A Celebrity, Mike Tindall opened up about his wife Zara Phillips giving birth on the bathroom floor.

The former rugby star was chatting to his campmates Scarlette Douglas and Boy George when he revealed the dramatic moment his son Lucas was born back in March 2021.

Mike revealed: “As we got our stuff to go to hospital, she got out of the bath, she could barely stand, she was shaking.

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“The midwife was like, ‘She’s not making the hospital.’

Mike Tindall opening up about the birth of his son on I'm A Celeb. Picture: ITV

“She was like, ‘You don’t want to be delivering in the car.’

“(I went) into the gym (and got) two gym mats (to put) down in the bathroom.”

Mike went on to say Lucas was born ‘fast’, continuing: “(Zara) was, it was fast though, from that moment. She almost choked me to death.

“You can’t say anything can you? ‘Can you let go, you’re really hurting me?’.”

Mike previously revealed how Zara, who is the Queen's granddaughter, gave birth to their third child on the bathroom floor at their home in Gatcombe Park.

Mike Tindall and his son Lucas in 2022. Picture: Alamy

This was the first royal home birth since the Queen's late sister, Princess Margaret, welcomed her daughter, Lady Sarah, at home in Kensington Palace in 1964.

The Queen also had her four children at home in Buckingham Palace and Clarence House.

Speaking on his podcast, Mike said: "Sunday got even better because a little baby boy arrived at my house.

He told listeners: "So yeah, it was running to the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, get the mat on the floor, towels down, brace, brace, brace."

Zara Tindall and her son Lucas in 2022. Picture: Getty Images

Zara’s friend Dolly was also there, as Mike went on: "She was there and recognised that we wouldn’t have got to hospital in time."

He added: "Fortunately the midwife who was going to meet us at the hospital wasn’t that far away so she drove up just as we had assumed the posit (position) and the second midwife arrived just after the head had arrived."

Mike said that their daughters Mia, eight, and Lena, four, were out for the day because Zara had been having contractions through the night.

Opening up about the benefits of a home birth, he added: "The best thing about being at home, the best thing was, as soon as he’s wrapped up, he’s skin on skin, straight downstairs. TV room. Golf on. This is what we’re doing."