The Traitors star Leanne Quigley, who after a nail-biting climax won the hit BBC One show last month alongside Jake Brown, has revealed her exciting plans for more children through IVF with her fiancee, Sophie Brown – undeterred, despite the couple’s traumatic experiences when twins Harley and Hudson, now 2, were born prematurely, and spent months fighting for their lives.

Arm veteran Leanne, 28, opening up during an exclusive shoot with OK! at their North Wales home, when she also spoke her partner’s devastating breast cancer battle and the relief that she’s finally got the all-clear, revealed that they will try again, ‘probably next year’ after they tie the knot – with Leanne’s fellow Traitors and host Claudia Winkleman on the guestlist.

Leanne would ‘love a little girl’, she says – and intends to use some of her winnings from The Traitors to fund further IVF. “We’ll have a rest, first – maybe we’ll start IVF after our wedding. Meanwhile, we’ll get my eggs frozen – Sophie’s eggs aren’t viable after her cancer treatment, which put her into early menopause. We’re so lucky we used Sophie’s eggs two years ago for the boys.” Asked if they will stop at a potential three, Sophie nods firmly, Leanne confesses, “The thing is, I don’t like odd numbers – maybe we should have four…”

Leanne, who carried non-identical twins Harley and Hudson using Sophie’s eggs and donor sperm, explained she was ‘very lucky’ to fall pregnant at the first attempt. “I asked to have both embryos as we were told they were ‘low grade – I really didn’t think it would work.” Delighted to be expecting twins, Sophie confesses she also couldn’t stop laughing at their first scan. “I was like, ‘Leanne, this is all your fault!’ But we wouldn’t change things for the world. Being a twin mum is the best thing ever.”

However, as Leanne admits, the boys’ entry into the world and the whirlwind months that followed were ‘terrifying’. The twins’ arrived unexpectedly on January 9 2023, 26 weeks early, at a local hospital while Sophie and Leanne were in Nottingham for Leanne’s mum’s birthday. Leanne admits, the whole thing is still a blur. “I told Sophie I was feeling these strange ‘tightenings’. Next thing I was told I was 4cm dilated and we were being prepped for an emergency C-section. I just went numb.”

Sophie adds. “I remember crying, thinking, ‘Are they going to make it?’ The doctors were saying, ‘If they do survive the birth, they could have all these disabilities.’ We couldn’t take it in.” When they were born, weighing just 1b 14 oz each, both babies’ amniotic sacs were still intact. As soon as they burst, doctors began frantically working to save them, as they had various complications – from holes in the heart to bleeds on the brain.

“I didn’t initially recognise them as my babies,” confesses Leanne. “They looked like fully-formed humans but their eyes were fused shut, their fingers webbed. It was surreal.” “They were put in a carrier bag in front of me, to keep them warm and keep moisture in,” adds Sophie. “I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ It’s meant to be the best moment of your life and it was like a nightmare.”

The twins were later taken to Birmingham for specialist care – and after three months allowed home with oxygen tanks – but even then, there were terrifying moments. “Nighttimes were awful,” admits Leanne. “I always worried they’d stop breathing. I bought my own SATs [a measure of oxygen in the blood] monitor and I’m convinced it saved their lives – one night at 3am the emergency alarm went off and one of the baby’s SATS were dangerously low – at 65%.”

Nowadays, their little ones are thriving, with hospital check-ups every other month – though Hudson occasionally returns for oxygen treatment, as his lungs are particularly weak. “They’re amazing,” beams Leanne. “So fun and happy. They’ve no idea how hard they had to fight to survive.”

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