Ryan Thomas has hailed his fiancee Lucy Mecklenburgh a "supermum" after their newborn son was born in isolation.
Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh
The former 'Coronation Street' star and the 28-year-old beauty welcomed their little bundle of joy, Roman, into the world on March 7, amid the coronavirus pandemic, and they were devastated to have to keep his 11-year-old daughter Scarlett - whom he has with ex Tina O'Brien - away from the newborn.
Ryan has now gushed about how "super proud" he is of the former 'The Only Way is Essex' star for coping so "amazingly" with the pressures of nursing a baby during a health pandemic, especially as a first-time mum.
He told The Sun: "Lucy has been a supermum.
"There is no rule book about being a mother and I think it has been a day-to-day challenge and she has dealt with it all amazingly, I'm super proud of her."
It has also been "difficult" not being able to have his family, including siblings Adam and Scott Thomas, over to meet their nephew, but the dark-haired hunk is planning a big party once life get's back to normal.
He added: "It's been difficult having the new baby and not being with the boys, it's just not a normal situation.
"The first thing we do when our kids are born is show them off to the brothers.
"But we've been keeping touch and FaceTime a lot.
"My daughter is sharing her time between me and her mum.
"She's gone home today and then she'll be back next week or the week after."
Ryan joked that he wants to show off his son like the famous scene from Disney's 'Lion King' when Simba is held up for all to see.
He said: "Hopefully this all dies down and I can drive him home to Manchester and give him the whole Lion King experience."
The couple are thankful for video conference apps which have made it possible for them to communicate with their loved ones, buy Ryan admitted it's "sad" that it's the only way his daughter can see her baby brother.
He wrote on Instagram recently: "Thank God for technology! I'm finding it really tough being away from my family and sad this is how my daughter met her baby brother.
"To any other broken families I feel your pain and it's killing me being apart from my daughter and family for so long, especially at this special time.
"BUT we all need to take social isolation and social distancing seriously and it's a sacrifice we have to make to save lives. (sic)"
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