Emma Atkins, who plays Charity Dingle on* Emmerdale*, has revealed she gave birth to a baby boy shortly before her 40th birthday.
The super-secretive actress, who kept her pregnancy concealed for eight months, has only just revealed her happy news - despite giving birth eight weeks ago. Well, it's tough being a new mum - compiling a press release for the world was probably the last thing on her mind!
Atkins revealed to The Sun that she was thrilled to be a new mum, along with the baby's father, her boyfriend Tom:
"We've had a lovely healthy baby boy. He arrived just before my 40th birthday, which was the best present."
No word as yet as to what she's called her bundle of joy - but seeing as she managed to keep her pregnancy under wraps for such a long time, we probably won't be finding out any time soon!
At the time of her pregancy, soap writers devised a storyline so fans wouldn't guess Emma was expecting - with Charity Dingle landing in jail so Atkins could go on maternity leave.
A source said at the time:
"Charity has escaped punishment for insurance fraud several times before but soap bosses decided it would be a good idea to write in a two-year jail sentence so that Emma could go on maternity leave.
"No one has guessed she's pregnant so didn't see Charity's prison sentence coming. Everyone assumed she would get away with it like she has so many times in the past".