‘Everyone wrote me off but I’m glad I had a baby at 14 - like Lily Slater from EastEnders’

EastEnders’ Lily Slater surprised viewers earlier this year when she discovered that she was pregnant during a trip to the hospital. Just months after she celebrated her 13th birthday, Lily gave birth to her daughter, who she called Charli after the singer Charli XCX, earlier this month and viewers of the BBC soap have seen her adjusting to life as a mum. For Bridie Walker, Lily’s ups and downs as a teen mum is one she can relate to.

When she fell pregnant at 13, giving birth after turning 14, her life “changed profoundly”. 31 years later, Bridie speaks to OK! about her experience and why she wouldn’t change anything for the world… “As the wave of pain began to build, I doubled over, trying desperately to keep breathing. “Women go through this every day,” I told myself, collapsing on the bed.

But I knew my labour was different. I was alone in my bedroom, surrounded by stuffed toys and schoolwork, timing my contractions with my Garfield digital clock. I was only 14 and about to become a mum.

As a child, I never had much stability. My parents divorced when I was five and my younger brother and I would move between mum and dad every few years. Wherever I was living, one thing was the same – I saw a career in my future, not babies.

But I also wanted love, and when Ben*, an older boy at school asked me out at 13, I was thrilled. I was so naive and besotted that I never thought about contraception when we started having sex. A year later, when my friend Anna* tearfully told me she’d missed her period and asked if I would come to the family planning clinic, I instantly said yes.

She asked me to also take a test so she wouldn’t feel so alone. “This is crazy,” I thought, as the nurse tested my urine. “I’ve just had my period.”