Ellie Simmonds to front documentary on parenthood and disability
Paralympian Ellie Simmonds will present a new ITV documentary that will examine the idea of having children who could be born with disabilities.
Ellie Simmonds is to host an emotional new documentary on parenthood.
The gold-medal-winning Paralympic swimmer took home a BAFTA for her 2023 documentary 'Finding My Secret Family' – which followed her attempts to find out more about her biological relatives – and will now examine the idea of having children when they may be born with disabilities in 'Ellie Simmonds: Should I Have Children?'.
Ellie – who was born with achondroplasia, a genetic form of dwarfism – is quoted by The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column as saying: "Now having the understanding of what my birth mother and so many others experienced 30 years ago when it came to disability and pregnancy, I want to see how things have changed for parents today.
"I also want to challenge some of the perceptions that exist today about children born with disabilities.
"It's a deeply personal subject to me, and I'm just so grateful to all those who have let me embark on what are deeply personal and emotional journeys of their own."
As her children have the potential to share her dwarfism, Ellie questions whether she should have kids and what they would look like.
The 30-year-old star will tackle the difficult and emotionally fraught decisions she would face if she did opt to start a family.
The film, which is expected to air on ITV1 and ITVX later this year, will show the impact of these choices through Ellie's eyes as she meets mothers and fathers faced with the same life-changing decisions.
She hopes that the documentary can help other prospective parents to navigate such a hard dilemma.
Ellie revealed last year that she wanted to work on more documentaries after the success of 'Finding My Secret Family'.
The five-time Paralympic champion said: "Documentaries is what I want to do.
"I love working in sport and TV and interviewing people but to do documentaries is my focus.
"It is something that we are working on now. For me disability is close to my heart so I’d like to do another one focusing on that."
