Big Brother star Brian Dowling announces birth of daughter via surrogate

The presenter and husband Arthur Gourounlian are ‘absolutely totally in love’

Brian Dowling (left) and husband Arthur Gourounlian have welcomed a baby girl (Brian Dowling/Instagram)

Brian Dowling and husband Arthur Gourounlian have welcomed a baby girl via surrogate.

The Big Brother winner shared the happy news on his Instagram page by posting a selfie of him and Gourounlian cradling the newborn while still wearing scrubs.

Dowling, 43, introduced his daughter Blake and paid tribute to the anonymous egg donor as well as his sister Aoife, who acted as their surrogate, in his post.

He wrote: “Please be upstanding for the arrival of our beautiful daughter Blake Maria Rose Dowling Gourounlian. Yes people another BDG.

“Blake was delivered safely on Thursday 1 September at 2:52pm weighing 7lb 4oz. We are absolutely totally in love with her and can’t believe she’s here and is ours.

“None of this would have been possible without our donor, a woman we have never met or even seen a picture of but has given us the gift of life,” he continued.

“Now, where do we even start with you Aoife, you are a saint to us and we will be forever grateful to you for the rest of our lives. Baby Blake can’t wait for her Aunty Aoife to spoil her.”

In a separate post, Gouroulian posted a video of himself holding Blake as she rested on his chest and wrote in the caption: “Our hearts are so full of joy. Dad Brian and Papa have been waiting for you our entire lives.

“To the egg donor that we have never met or seen any pic of [sic] thank you, without you, our bundle of joy would not be here. And Aoife, you have given us the world, we will forever owe you. Merci.”

Dowling and Gourounlian have been married for seven years and announced in May that they were expecting a child.

The Irish TV presenter, who won the second series of Big Brother in 2001, said at the time that he “never thought this day would be a reality for us”.

“For a lot of us out there and especially from our community, we have to fight harder and push harder for what others consider to be something that can be achieved easily,” he wrote on Instagram.