Morning Live’s Michelle Ackerley opens up on 20-year health battle before falling pregnant
Michelle Ackerley has opened up about her two-decade-long battle with endometriosis before she became pregnant.
Michelle Ackerley spent two decades battling endometriosis before she became pregnant.
The Morning Live presenter, 41, has revealed how years of “incredible pain” and fears over infertility left her preparing for a life without children before she welcomed daughter Nala last year.
Speaking in an interview with The Sun newspaper, Michelle said: “In the very beginning it was something that I never spoke about and spent a lot of time enduring in silence.
“And I think from my experience of endometriosis, which was incredible pain, really bad period pains, conversations early doors really about infertility and how it could be very hard to get pregnant in the future.
“For me, my relationship with having a child, I almost had to imagine a life without children from very early on.”
Michelle - whose mother also has endometriosis, which affects the lining of the womb - recalled suffering in silence during her early days at the BBC.
She said she spent “many, many years” in pain and later had a frank conversation with her partner Ben Ryan about the possibility they might not conceive naturally.
She explained: “It was almost telling myself, you know, if I don’t have kids that’s okay and getting used to that mindset.”
A health check in December 2024 revealed very low Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) levels, indicating a reduced egg count and giving the couple little hope.
So, when she discovered she was pregnant on Valentine’s Day last year, it felt surreal.
She said: “All the signs and signals basically were gearing towards not getting pregnant at all, and then on February 14th … I found out that I was pregnant with Nala, which very much felt against all odds.”
However, Michelle admitted the pregnancy was physically and emotionally draining.
She recalled: “I mean, just really reflecting on the whole of 2025, it was a whole mixture of emotions and a real roller coaster because obviously when I found out I was pregnant, I was so happy, shocked, nervous, quite scared.
“But from finding out I was pregnant up until when I gave birth to Nala, the journey wasn’t easy and I almost felt quite guilty because obviously I felt so grateful, but at the same time I was having a really rough time of it.”
She battled severe morning sickness while filming in Salford and Cardiff, later suffering migraines that required MRI scans.
In her third trimester, she was rushed to hospital after experiencing intense dizziness and vomiting.
She said: “The fear in that moment was so real … I was thinking there’s something not right going on.”
Michelle was diagnosed with labyrinthitis, and Nala was later born safely by planned C-section.
Now four months postpartum, Michelle is supporting This Girl Can’s We Like the Way You Move campaign, encouraging women to embrace gentle exercise.
She said: “I’ve learned so much about my body, being kind to it, accepting that it’s different to how it ever used to be.”
