Gemma Arterton reveals she welcomed her first child in December
Watch: Gemma Arterton shares the joy of becoming mum
Gemma Arterton has revealed that she has given birth to her first child, a son.
The 37-year-old has said she and her husband, actor Rory Keenan, welcomed their “Christmas elf” in December.
“We are very, very happy, he was born just before Christmas. A little Christmas elf,” Arterton told Zoe Ball on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Wednesday morning.
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The Tamara Drewe actor announced her pregnancy in November, after displaying her baby bump at the Raindance Film Festival awards, then gave birth the following month.
Arterton previously told The Times she wasn’t sure about having children, but it appears her feelings changed after marrying Peaky Blinders actor Keenan in a secret ceremony in 2019.
“I don't think you can ever plan the right, exact time,” she told the publication in 2013.
“I don't feel ready for kids because I want to know that I can come back and still be valuable to the industry.'
“That's only going to happen when I feel a little bit more accomplished... or at least when I've accomplished something of which I'm proud.”
Arterton has previously starred in the 007 film, Quantum Solace alongside Daniel Craig in 2008, and more recently alongside Ralph Fiennes in 2021’s The King’s Man.
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The actor was previously married to Italian fashion designer Stefano Cattelli between 2010 and 2015, but the pair separated in 2013 after three years of marriage.
“It was a wonderful time and I have nothing bad to say about it,” Arterton told Marie Claire following the split.
"[Even if they don't last] relationships can enrich your life in some way and then you move on to the next part – it's all part of the process of living.
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“I don't know how I feel about marriage; whether it's really necessary... If you are not religious, what does it mean? I'd always thought that – then I got married. And now I still believe in what I believed in when I was a child.”
Arterton met Keenan in 2017 while they were both appearing in the play St. Joan by George Bernard Shaw on London's West End.
