Elaine Lordan has spoken for the first time about the ‘terrible shock’ of her baby son’s early death. The ex EastEnders actress reveals the horror of losing one-year-old James – who had been born with a diaphragmatic hernia and spent the first six months of his life in intensive care – in her forthcoming autobiography, Whatever It Takes. “He lay there looking perfectly peaceful, his eyes closed and his little face pink,” she recalls of the moment when a doctor told her that he had been unable to revive her son. “I lifted his eyelids. Perhaps I hoped to see a flicker of life, even then. I held him in my arms and there was a little trickle of blood from his nose, which Pete [Manuel, her husband] wiped away. “He was doing really well and it was a terrible shock when he died. He had his own wee personality. He taught us so much.” The 41-year-old actress also explains how quitting I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here was a blessing in disguise, because it allowed her to spend more time with James before his unexpected death. Whatever It Takes is published on 5 May.
