Australian music icon Shannon Noll may have lost 11kg during the taping of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here but the singer has gained so much more from his time in the jungle – including a bouncing new bundle of joy.
In an exclusive waterfront shoot with New Idea in the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla, Shannon and his wife of 14 years, Rochelle, reveal they’re eagerly expecting baby number four!
‘I put it down to the detox in the jungle,’ Shannon jokes. ‘I was totally detoxing and there wasn’t a lot of privacy if you get my drift.’
It appears distance does make the heart grow fonder, as Rochelle tells New Idea the pair were heartsick for one another from day one.
‘I was like, “that’s it, and I’ve had it.” It was torture,’ she reveals. ‘Enough was enough. They’d had him for ages and I was done!’
Shannon had been away for 42 days before he was finally able to reunite with his wife and their three children, Cody, 17, Blake, 15, and Sienna, 11.
It was this separation that lead to the eventual conception of their new baby.
‘This all happened around Easter, which was only 10 or 15 days after I got back from the jungle,’ Shannon says. ‘I think the show is the reason we got pregnant!’
The pregnancy came as a shock to Shannon and Rochelle, who had previously tried for a fourth child to no avail.
‘We tried years ago after our daughter Sienna,’ Rochelle explains, ‘but it didn’t work out.’
What’s more, Shannon and Rochelle were led to believe they’d never be able to have children again after a freak accident in 2010.
‘I was on the back of a dual cab ute with a short tray and I stepped out of the back of the tray,’ Shannon reveals. ‘I left for
London a few days later and half way through rehearsals I was in agony. The first thing the doctor said was, “I hope you’re finished having kids” so we didn’t think there was any chance.’
Now, three months along and into her second trimester, Rochelle, 43, has been making the most of the surprise pregnancy.
‘There was a bit of concern about everything being OK, but once I saw the ultrasound and knew everything was fine, that’s when it was time to celebrate.’
Rochelle – a former gymnast – attributes her healthy and active lifestyle to an easy pregnancy that has seen the busy mum get by with only slight nausea.
‘When it all happened I had been going to the gym for 18 months and was eating really clean,’ she reveals. ‘When Shannon was in the jungle, the gym and healthy eating kept me sane. I focused on it and it got me through.’
While the pair aren’t entirely sure how they’ll juggle teenagers and a newborn under one roof, they were relieved when all three kids took the baby news so well.
‘They were over the moon,’ Shannon explains. ‘They’ve been really great.’
What hasn’t been so great is Shannon’s continuous touring schedule, which saw Shannon leave for a weekend tour right after the married couple discovered the news. This is something the pair would like to avoid in the future.
‘There was a lot Shannon didn’t experience with the boys when they were little,’ Rochelle admits. ‘I’d like him around so he doesn’t miss those milestones.’
The baby news has come at the right time for Shannon who feels he’s ushering in a new chapter after a tumultuous two years.
‘I went through a bit of a dark patch after my back operation and struggled a bit,’ he says.
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea, on sale now!
