‘Dancing With the Stars’ Judge Oti Mabuse Announces Exciting News of Second Pregnancy |

Oti Mabuse has announced that she is expecting her second child with husband Marius Iepure. The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star and ‘Dancing With The Stars Ireland’ judge took to Instagram on Thursday to share the exciting news, posting three sweet snaps of herself, Marius and their daughter posing in front of a sign reading ‘Baby Number 2’.Oti donned an orange dress to show off her blossoming bump and held up a strip of sonograms for the photoshoot. “Plot twist. We thought we had our hands full already, but life had even bigger plans,” she wrote in the caption. “Baby No. 2 is joining the dance party, and our hearts and house are about to get a whole lot fuller.”

Oti Mabuse and Marius Iepure’s journey to parenthood

Oti and Marius became parents for the first time in 2023 when they welcomed their daughter, whose name has never been publicly revealed. The couple announced the arrival of their firstborn on Christmas Day that year, though Oti later clarified that she had actually given birth prematurely in the autumn.

The South African dancer was diagnosed with sepsis during the birth, and her daughter had infections as a result, leading to a six-week stay in the NICU. Speaking on the ‘Happy Mum Happy Baby’ podcast in February 2024, Oti opened up about the experience. “She was very premature, she came really, really early, unexpected premature which was a big, big shock,” she said. “Going through that emotional trauma that you go through when you have a premature baby, and then being in hospital with the little one for six weeks and then finally coming out and having her home with friends and family over Christmas was really nice.“She also described seeing her daughter for the first time. “When I saw her for the first time, shocked that I had done it, and she was the most beautiful human being I had ever seen in my life,” she said.

Oti Mabuse opens up about her daughter’s premature birth

Oti spoke about the experience again while appearing on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ in 2024, telling fellow contestant Reverend Richard Coles about the difficulty of those early weeks. “My daughter was really tiny when she was born. She’s been through hell. It’s hell to be in the hospital, to hear those sounds, to not see your baby’s eyes for a week, to constantly look for advice from the doctors. The worst thing was, that every night, you needed to leave your baby in somebody else’s hands,” she said.

Richard praised Oti as a “remarkable and strong woman,” with Oti adding, “Talking about it with Richard made me very emotional, but it also made me very grateful because I’m so lucky.”With their second baby now on the way, Oti and Marius are preparing to welcome a new addition to a family that has already shown remarkable resilience and strength.