Love Island star Jack Keating 'gutted' to miss the birth of his daughter

On her Instagram Stories, Keely Iqbal revealed that former Love Island star Jack Keating tried to get to the hospital in time but arrived shortly after Maya was born

Love Island's Jack Keating was "gutted" to miss the birth of his daughter Maya by just nine minutes, according to mum Keely Iqbal. The duo welcomed their little girl last March.

On her Instagram Stories, Keely revealed that the former Love Island star tried to get to the hospital in time but arrived shortly after Maya was born. Answering a fan's question about what the baby's father did during labour, she said: "Was very lucky to have my sister @grxcemia._ very solid birth partner and hand squeezer," followed by a laughing emoji.

She also shared that her sister witnessed the birth at just 17 years old. Keely added: "Jack was gutted to arrive 9 mins after Maya arrived, his rushing was rushing enough," accompanied by another laughing emoji. Both Jack and Keely are happily co-parenting their daughter. Jack, son of Ronan Keating and Yvonne Connolly, previously expressed his excitement about co-parenting with Keely.

He said: "I am delighted to announce the birth of my little girl. Her mother and I have decided to keep her identity private for now and we ask everyone to please respect our privacy at this time. My daughter's mother and I are not together, however, we look forward to co-parenting and giving our little girl the best support system that she needs."

"This is an exciting new chapter for me and my family and I am completely besotted already. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a father and give my daughter the most amazing life."

When baby Maya arrived, Jack took to Instagram to share a black-and-white photo of himself holding the newborn and wrote: "Welcome to the world my little [princess emoji]". Ronan commented: "Little cutie". Whilst Jack's mum Yvonne wrote: "I miss her so much already". Ronan's wife Storm reacted with heart emojis.

At the time, the identity of the newborn's mother was not disclosed by Jack in his post and the reality TV star later suggested to The Sun that they will be "co-parenting". Ronan spoke about becoming a grandparent on the One Show last year. It came after his co-host Jermaine Jenas teased about him being a 'grandad'.

The singer said: "I am. Yes, my son had a gorgeous baby." He went on to comment that he and his wife Storm – who is Jack's stepmother – have become "grandparents". Former footballer Jermaine suggested Ronan would prefer to be referred to as something other than 'grandad'. Ronan responded: "Uh, Pops. We'll go with that. Perfect".

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