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She joined the cast of Hollyoaks back in 2008, and since then Jorgie Porter has rarely been out of the spotlight. But for now the actress and model has stepped away from the cameras and is living a very different lifestyle. After giving birth in November to her son Forest, who she shares with fiancé Ollie Piotrowski, the new mum is settling into her biggest role to date.
“Life has been a roller-coaster ride, but I’m doing great. For a while after I’d given birth, it was all a bit of a panic,” Jorgie, 35, tells OK!. “But as I get through each day I’m just relieved and I think, ‘Was today really as bad as I made it out to be?’ Then the next day Forest will have a poonami in Selfridges. It’s a continuous cycle!”
It’s this honesty and openness that has defined Jorgie’s career. One look on her Instagram and you’ll find stories of relatable parenting updates, from snot-sucking attempts to family photoshoots gone wrong.
“It’s important to show other new mums that we all experience disasters,” she says. “People DM me saying they can relate while others will give me tips on what I can do the next time I’m faced with a changing catastrophe. When they say it takes a village, that’s exactly what it is.”
But when it comes to more serious topics close to her heart, Jorgie isn’t afraid to speak out, either. In 2021, having fallen pregnant with quadruplets, she tragically suffered a “missed miscarriage”, where the baby dies in the womb but the mother has no symptoms. Jorgie has subsequently been open about the realities of becoming a mum after pregnancy loss.
“I think going through loss changes how you feel,” she explains. “Having been through miscarriage, I’m so grateful to be a mum and it makes me appreciate having Forest even more because I know how fragile things can be.”
This fragility has found its way into Jorgie’s parenting style too, with the soap star admitting that she thought she’d be “way more chilled” than she is.
“I’d wrap Forest up in cotton wool if I could. I think it’s due to the fact I’ve lost before,” Jorgie explains. “When other people are with Forest, I’m the kind of parent who’ll say, ‘Don’t worry, let me sort it,’ rather than letting them take over. I’m starting to get more relaxed but at the beginning I was like, ‘He’s precious, don’t touch him.’”
Throughout her career, Jorgie has kept her diary busy with appearances on shows including Dancing On Ice, I’m A Celebrity and Celebs Go Dating, and earlier this year she revealed that she’d returned to work to do some filming for Channel 4. However, like a lot of new mums, the decision didn’t come easily.
“Forest was three or four months old at the time. I questioned it a lot, but the environment was really supportive and I was lucky enough to be able to take him along,” she explains. “The team made me feel so comfortable that at times I only remembered I had a baby because my boobs were throbbing and leaking, which meant I needed to do a quick feed.”
But motherhood hasn’t all been plain sailing, Jorgie admits. “People say that you lose yourself after becoming a mum and that was true for a while as I was so focused on looking after Forest. Once I got into the swing of things, I started to feel myself thanks to date nights with Ollie or phone calls with friends,” she explains. “I’ve also perfected the art of getting ready and can get myself sorted in nine minutes. These days I need things that don’t take up too much of my time, like the Wilkinson Sword Intuition 2-in-1 Ultra Moisture Razor.”
With Forest recently turning eight months old, it’s clear Jorgie and Ollie are loving life as a family of four alongside Ollie’s eight-year-old son Alfie.
“The intensity of being a parent is what makes it fulfilling and Ollie’s such a great dad. At first he found it a bit difficult as I was breast-feeding, so he couldn’t help with that, but now he’s incredible,” says Jorgie. “Forest finds him hilarious – as soon as Ollie walks through the door he starts laughing and I’m like, ‘I’ve been to comedy school – what are you doing that I’m not?’”
As for the future, having more children isn’t completely off the cards, says Jorgie. “Seeing Forest playing with his older brother makes me think he could do with having another sibling,” she explains. “I would never say never because at one point I thought we were having four children, so my thought process is that maybe that wouldn’t be too much of a bad idea.”
Jorgie Porter is the celebrity ambassador for Wilkinson Sword Intuition 2 in 1 Ultra Moisture Razor Summer Campaign. Available now from Boots stores nationwide and boots.com
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