Dannii Minogue, Kris Smith and child - family facts

2008 - 2012

In 2008, Dannii Minogue, the Australian singer and younger sister of fellow Aussie superstar, Kylie Minogue, burst onto our TV screens after being named as one of the talent judges on the X Factor. Taking her place alongside music mogel Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, Dannii quickly became the nation's sweetheart.

It was around this time that Dannii also met English model and ex-rugby league player Kris Smith.

Dannii continued her X Factor judge duty until series seven in 2009 when, after much speculation, Dannii announced that she was pregnant with her and partner Kris Smith's 1st child on Twitter by tweeting, "Woo hoo, I'm going to be a Mummy!"

Despite Dannii previously denying the pregnancy rumours, even resorting to suing a national newspaper who 'broke' the news before she had her 3-month scan and before she had a chance to publicly announce it herself.

Dannii previously said that she didn't think that she'd have a baby as she never felt broody. "I've never been maternal. I almost thought I was going to escape it. But now I'm in a relationship that is just so right, maybe I have to think about it," Dannii said previously, before she fell pregnant.

However, after she was warned by her doctor that she had better make her decision to start a family "sooner rather than later", Dannii put her words into action and announced her pregnancy, which took her by surprise the most!

"I never saw myself having kids, so now it's happened, I'm still in shock. I'm the person that not long ago said, 'No, we're not having kids.' But now I'm thinking, 'I think I want another one!'"

After debuting her growing baby bump at The National Television Awards in 2009, Dannii announced that she was going to miss the X Factor live audition shows as she was due to give birth around that time, despite rumours that she was going to be kicked off the show.

Dannii's pregnancy was well documented on her Twitter, as we got to see her first baby gift, as well as given hints that she was pregnant with a boy, judging by her cryptic tweets and picture posts. Baby-to-be even had its own Twitter page 'Baby Smithogue' before he was even born!

Dannii also revealed that her time in the UK was affecting her pregnancy cravings, as she admitted that she was hankering after fish and chips!

Dannii also said that she loved her new baby bump curves, especially her big bum! "It's a good thing my bum has grown, because it balances me out. My baby bump is so big out front, that if I didn't have the big bum, I'd topple over!" Dannii said at the time.

However, she did offer her pregnancy styling tips - baby bump-friendly Spanx! "The slimness with the maternity Spanx. You wouldn't want a guy to see you in them. What they do for your bum is amazing though! It's what mine would look like if I had a personal trainer."

After admitting that she wanted to "bottle her pregnancy hormones" as they made her feel really relaxed, Dannii glowed through her pregnancy - find out how to steal her pregnancy look and check out her mum-to-be fashion and beauty tips.

On 5 July 2010, Dannii announced that she had given birth to baby boy named Ethan at Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital, Australia. Dannii was rushed to the hospital after her planned home-birth experienced complications. She had to sign in under an alias to keep her presence there a secret.

"On behalf of the 3 of us I would like to thank you all for your kind words and best wishes. It means a lot to us," proud dad Kris tweeted after the news of the birth broke.

Dannii introduced her little bundle of joy a few days after he was born on Twitter, and then he was papped on his first shopping trip to Mothercare.

It wasn't long until Dannii had to return to her X Factor duties, where she rejoined the show at the judges house episode. However, Dannii's judging duties were interrupted when Ethan started crying in the other room, as he was hungry! Ethan's crying disaster didn't put mum Dannii off bringing him to work again though, as he was spotted in the audience of the X Factor show sporting his baby head gear!

These days, Dannii models for Marks & Spencer's womenswear collections and is rumoured to be a judge on the singing talent show, The Voice, after it was revealed that she had quit the X Factor.

In April 2012, Dannii announced on Twitter that she and Kris has decided to split up as a couple.

"It brings me great sadness to tell you that Kris & I have separated. We still care for each other & ask for privacy at this difficult time, in particular for our son Ethan who remains our number one priority."

Kris later confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

She and Kris continue to co-parent Ethan.

Images: Featureflash/Shutterstock, Instagram/Dannii Minogue

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