Longtime Soap Opera Actress Pregnant After 4 Years of IVF

Former Home and Away star Christie Hayes is adding another little one to her brood!

The actress, who starred on the popular Australian soap as Kirsty Phillips (née Sutherland), told listeners on the Monday, May 26 episode of The Hit Network’s Dan & Christie radio show that she is pregnant and expecting her first child with her husband Justin Coombes-Pearce following a four-year IVF journey.

The little one will be Hayes’ third, as she shares sons, Hendrix, 10 and Harley, 9, with Daniel White, whom she divorced in 2019.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by C H R I S T I E H A Y E S (@christiehayes_)

“It’s been four years in the making…I am pregnant. We are ecstatic, we are safe, and we’re in the second trimester already,” Hayes told her co-host Dan Taylor, per news.com.au, later adding, “I found out on Friday that I was pregnant. I’d been doing all these pregnancy tests and on Friday I had to get a blood test to confirm it. It came up with really good news.”

Hayes’ pregnancy follows years of fertility struggles, which she remained candid about with fans. After marrying Coombes-Pearce in 2021, the couple immediately began plans to have a child together, the pair eventually turning to IVF. Their path to parenthood was met with heartache, though, when Hayes suffered a miscarriage three years ago.

Reflecting on their journey, Hayes said, per 9Honey, “Our lucky number is four. Isn’t it funny how it was our fourth round of IVF in our fourth year of marriage, and everything has just worked out? And you never think it’s going to when you’re doing IVF. That’s the thing, you’re in such a painful time that you can’t see it working out, but sometimes it does.”

As she announced her pregnancy, Hayes shared a message of hope to others going through IVF.

“I can’t express to you how overjoyed we are, but mostly I just want you to know that if you are going through IVF, or if you’re trying to have a baby, I have been where you are,” she said. “I know how hard it is. I know what it’s like for women out there, for men out there, for the partners out there, for the people that try and try and try and you feel like you can’t get anywhere. I just want you to know that it can happen. When you least expect it, your life can change and sometimes everything is just OK.”

Hayes, who shared on social media that she and her husband are “over the moon,” told listeners, “Where there is hope, there is life. So thank you.”