Brian Dowling has broken down in tears while discussing not being on his kids’ birth certificates.
In June, the TV presenter welcomed a second child with his husband Arthur Gourounlian.
The couple who have been married since 2015, share two daughters Blake and Blu.
The pair became parents for the first time in 2022 when they welcomed Blake via their surrogate, Brian’s sister Aoife, who also carried their second baby.
Sharing the birth of their second child on Instagram this morning, Brian and Arthur wrote: “Please be upstanding for the arrival of our BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, Blu Amar Rose Dowling Gourounlian.”
”Blu was delivered safely on Sunday, June 23rd, at 13:33h, weighing 6lb 2ozs.”
”Myself & Papa @gourounlian are ABSOLUTELY BESOTTED & actually can’t believe we now have two little beauties to keep us on our toes”
Praising Brian’s sister Aoife, who acted as their surrogate, they continued: “@effidy_dowling_, you are a SUPERSTAR & we are, as always, FOREVER GRATEFUL.”
”You stayed so calm, considering it wasn’t exactly the birth plan we had initially hoped for.”
”Baby Blu was adamant to arrive on Sunday, the 23rd of June & nothing or no one was going to stop her.”
“Big Sister Blake, you have been activated 🤩”
However, during an appearance on Loose Women, Brian revealed that having children via surrogacy has not been all smooth sailing.
Brian told the panel that Arthur is their daughter’s biological father and explained: “I even hate saying that sentence because I feel like it degrades and devalues my relationship with my children.”
“At the moment Aoife is the legal mother to both our children but not the biological mother because we used an egg donor.”
“So they’re on the birth certificate, I’m not. We are hoping there will be a time soon in Ireland where my name will be on it.”
The TV star gestured to the hosts on the Loose Women panel and emphasised “Right now you all have the same rights over my children as I do”.
He added: “Change is needed, change is coming. People think surrogacy is a gay issue, but it’s not, it’s a family issue and so many people have been fighting this fight long before us.”
And Brian also told how he chose both his children’s names and joked: “I chose both names. Arthur got the DNA so I needed to get the names, and because my ego is so fragile, I wanted both our children to be BDG like me.”
“We’ve got Blake Maria Rose, Blake we loved and Maria is for Arthur’s mum and then Rose is for our mum who passed away in 2018.”
“Then we have Blu, Blu was supposed to be Blu Valentina Rose and then Arthur wanted something Armenian so it’s Blu Amar Rose and Amar translates to summer in Armenian.”