Oti Mabuse Opens Up About ‘Traumatic’ Birth, Sepsis, and Premature Baby’s Survival

Oti Mabuse shared her emotional journey into motherhood on Loose Women Wednesday, describing the “traumatic” experience of her daughter’s birth and the health battles that followed. The former Strictly Come Dancing star, now 34, joined the panel to discuss the challenges she and her husband, Marius Lepure, faced after their baby girl was born prematurely last November.

The couple’s daughter arrived eight weeks early, with an infection that required six weeks of intensive care. Mabuse revealed that she had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 28 weeks and later developed sepsis after giving birth, which compounded her post-birth struggles. “Once I gave birth to her it became more traumatic,” she explained, adding, “I had sepsis and didn’t know. I had all these things – the diabetes, pelvic pain – and then sepsis. It was one thing over the other”, reported by the Daily Mail.

Oti spoke candidly about how social expectations of “snapping back” after pregnancy affected her. Charlene White praised her for her honesty on social media, saying, “What I love about Oti is… it’s not about weight loss since having the baby; it’s about feeling fit, healthy, and strong.” Mabuse agreed, emphasizing the importance of focusing on health rather than physical appearance.

The birth of their daughter also stirred deep gratitude and perspective for Mabuse and Lepure, who were reminded of the fragility of life in their native countries. Oti, originally from South Africa, and Marius, from Romania, both acknowledged that preterm births like theirs often have less favorable outcomes in those regions. “We were very, very lucky,” Mabuse shared on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, “In South Africa and Romania, they don’t help children who are born as young as she was.”

Marius reflected on the difficult times they endured, adding, “If it had been that week in Romania, they would not have saved the baby. We are lucky.” Despite the joyful arrival, Mabuse admitted she was “at her lowest” just after the birth due to her daughter’s critical state. “The baby was sick,” she said. “She couldn’t breathe on her own, she couldn’t eat on her own. She was really small. We couldn’t hold her. That was incredibly tough.”

In addition to her motherhood journey, Mabuse hinted at potentially joining the upcoming season of I’m A Celebrity. “I love I’m a Celeb,” she quipped, sparking speculation she may join the ITV family of stars, alongside rumored contestants such as Coleen Rooney and Barry McGuigan.

The couple’s story sheds light on the challenges of preterm births, which impact around 10 percent of pregnancies worldwide. In the UK and US, premature births are a leading cause of neonatal mortality, underscoring the critical care required to support these vulnerable infants.