Samantha Barks has revealed that she is expecting her second child.
The 34-year-old West End sensation, who triumphed on The Masked Singer earlier this year, is expecting another baby with her husband, Alex Michael Stoll.
Already proud parents to their 19-month-old son Rafael, Samantha excitedly shared the news of their growing family while getting ready for her performance at the VE Day 80: A Celebration To Remember event on Thursday (May 8).
She exclaimed: “I’m nearly nine months pregnant, it’s gonna be me and baby performing for royalty tonight. It’s our first adventure!”
Samantha also reminisced about her past performances for the royals as she prepared to deliver the iconic wartime song, We’ll Meet Again.
She confessed: “It’s my fourth time, actually. It never gets less nerve-wracking, it’s always such an honour but I’m nervous! We have a choir, we have dancers, it’s gonna be a really big finish and I’m super proud of it.”
“Music brings us all together, it still does, even tonight, it brings us back to those days – the power of music,” reports the Mirror.
She continued, expressing her anticipation: “A song like We’ll Meet Again, it’s so poignant and beautiful and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Samantha first captured the public’s heart during her stint on BBC’s I’d Do Anything in 2008, where she competed for the role of Nancy in Oliver and finished third, just behind Jessie Buckley and Coronation Street’s Jodie Prenger.
She began with a prestigious role as Eponine in London’s Les Misérables, before reprising it for the 2012 film alongside stars Hugh Jackman, Amanda Seyfried, and Eddie Redmayne.
Between 2021 to 2024, she wowed audiences as Elsa in Frozen the Musical on the West End, and shared her talents as a judge on ITV’s hit show Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, alongside Alan Carr, Amber Riley and Jessie Ware.
Reflecting on her role as Elsa last year, she previously spoke about expectations: “With most parts I’ve played, there has been an expectation because the character is known in some way.
“I choose to not take that on. I want to do a good job and I want people to enjoy it, but it’s not really a helpful emotion to take on in terms of thinking about what people might expect.”
She added: “Every other part I’ve played has a love interest, and that has been like the main focus. This is not that at all… Elsa is a really complex part.
“And she’s so isolated, so that’s very interesting. It’s a lot of conceal and don’t feel until she has that moment of self-acceptance and self-love.”