Paralympian Ellie Simmonds dives deep into her most personal topic yet in a new hard-hitting documentary: parenthood.
Following the success of her BAFTA-winning documentary Finding My Secret Family, which saw Ellie Simmonds discover her birth mum had given her up for adoption after she was diagnosed with dwarfism, Ellie is exploring whether she should have children who could potentially share her disability.
Ellie was adopted into a loving family when she was just a few months old and had a happy childhood, telling cameras her adopted parents’ love “means so much”. However, part of her yearns for a biological family of her own.
“I always said to myself when I was growing up I wanted lots of children and I wanted to adopt,” says Ellie on the new ITV show, Ellie Simmonds: Should I Have Children?
"Whereas now I would want children of my own because I know what I’ve gone through. I think it would be nice to see someone like yourself and have yourself passed on in the world.”
Ellie doesn’t just look at her own situation in this informative and emotional film, she also explores the emotional terrain of antenatal testing, disability and the decisions expectant parents may encounter during pregnancy.
“We have incredible access to a foetal unit and medical professionals and professors,” she says, “The film shows what women, caregivers and couples go through when there may be some complications with a pregnancy and the choices they face.”
Venturing to one of the UK’s top Foetal Medicine Units, Ellie meets families processing a prenatal diagnosis of disability. One couple, Rosie and Lloyd, discover during their 28-week scan that their son has dwarfism.
Ellie supports their story with insights from doctors, geneticists and counsellors. But it’s the emotional side of parenthood that hits the hardest.
“With all the couples I met, as I talked to them about when they were pregnant, the fear was the future and the unknown,” Ellie says, “As soon as the baby was here all that went out of the window.
Science is incredible, but when you get told something that is maybe a bit different, or your child has a disability, then you play out all these worse case scenarios.
When they find out their child has a disability, their brain is on overload. That’s what I found out from my birth mum, she was vulnerable, your hormones and emotions are everywhere.”
One father, David, shared a different fear on the show. “He was scared of his child being bullied,” Ellie says. “That part is the bit that upset me the most. It makes me feel like I want to see what else I can do to help people, what more I can do to help Disabled people.”
Social media can amplify the pressure for new parents. “There are couples who go through this joyful experience, pictures on social media and baby reveals but also there are a lot of women and couples that go through the struggles, even if there aren’t any complications,” says Ellie. “Support is definitely a big factor when you are going through this emotive time, having people around you is crucial.”
For Ellie, the new documentary isn’t just professional - it’s a personal reckoning. Born with achondroplasia, a genetic condition that causes dwarfism, she was abandoned at birth and adopted at three months old.
Now, at 30, she’s surrounded by friends starting families - but she’s not there yet. “Being my age, 30, a lot of my friends are now starting to have children,” says Ellie. “I’m not ready just yet.”
Ellie’s decision to wait before starting a family isn’t just about timing. It’s about what pregnancy could mean for her. Her condition is hereditary, and if her partner also had dwarfism, there’s a risk of a fatal outcome for the baby because of the double-dominant form of the condition, also known as homozygous achondroplasia.
Ellie also wanted to see how disability is approached today by medical professionals. In her first documentary she was shocked by a fact sheet her birth mother received after her own diagnosis that described people with restricted growth as “evil” and “stupid."
“Seeing what my birth mum went through and the language that was used back then to tell parents, I wanted to see if that has improved,” explains Ellie.
“Society, as a whole, has got better with different disabilities but I still think we have a long way to go.” Ellie believes society has moved forward - but not far enough. “Society as a whole has got better with different disabilities, but we have a long way to go,” Ellie says.
Now firmly established on our screens, Strictly star Ellie is determined to rewrite the narrative around people living with a disability. “I want people to realise they are stronger than they think,” she says.
As she reflects on her own journey, Ellie asks important questions too. “It’s really important to educate yourself and also to open up that conversation about the struggles that women and couples go through to have a child,” says Ellie.
“After speaking to lots of people through this documentary, so many have difficulties. It’s hard, and you feel like you are on your own and I don’t want people to feel like they are on their own.”
