Simon Pryce and Lauren Hannaford: Wiggles couple share road to pregnancy

The Red Wiggle and Dorothy the Dinosaur have delighted children all around the world. And now, after two years of trying, Simon Pryce and Lauren Hannaford are expecting a baby of their own. The couple open up about their health complications and why they are pretty certain their child will “come out laughing”.

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As they prepare to welcome their first child, Red Wiggle Simon Pryce and his wife Lauren Hannaford must be hoping that parenthood is not as eventful as pregnancy.

After two years of trying for a baby, Hannaford, who fell in love with Pryce when she stepped into the role of Dorothy the Dinosaur in The Wiggles, discovered that cysts on her ovaries could have been preventing the couple from falling pregnant.

She was booked in for surgery earlier this year, but two days before she was due to go into hospital the government cancelled all elective surgeries.

The pair resigned themselves to waiting, and chose to focus on enjoying their time together given the pandemic had also forced The Wiggles to cancel their concerts.

Says fitness professional Hannaford, 34: “We just had to trust that in the end the timing for us was going to be right. Then just before I was due to go in for the rescheduled surgery we found out I was pregnant. It worked out naturally and wonderfully.”

“I’m sure this baby is going to come out laughing.” (Picture: Daniel Nadel)

Pryce says he is thrilled and excited that his child will add another baby to The Wiggles family after fellow performer Lachlan Gillespie, the Purple Wiggle, welcomed twin daughters last month.

“We’d got used to the idea of waiting but, like you hear so many times, as soon as you relax and stop thinking about it, it happens,” he tells Stellar. “I’m loving seeing Lauren pregnant and am overflowing with love knowing there is a little baby growing inside of her.”

But if that was the end of the dramas for the couple, more was to come when they moved to Melbourne for Pryce, 48, to secretly take part in Network 10’s The Masked Singer under the guise of The Puppet.

At that stage, they figured there was no point announcing their pregnancy because they were in lockdown, which was followed by two weeks’ quarantine after a COVID-19 outbreak on the show halted production.

Having discovered on Mother’s Day that they were expecting, they finally chose Father’s Day to announce their news via Instagram.

The couple is now back in Sydney and with the baby due to arrive around their fourth wedding anniversary in mid-January, Hannaford laughingly points out that their only preparation thus far has been the exchange of their two-door car for a more family friendly model.

“I’m loving seeing Lauren pregnant.” (Picture: Daniel Nadel)

Simon Pryce and Lauren Hannaford on the red carpet of the Aria Awards 2019. (Picture: Jonathan Ng)

“We’re really happy and excited, and we’ve got a million tabs open on the computer for things we need to buy to set up the baby’s room, but we haven’t bought anything yet,” she says. One thing they have planned, however, is a private gender-reveal party just for the two of them.

As Pryce says, after a bushfire in America was ignited by a device used at an outdoor gender-reveal party, they’re having a more modest affair and plan to have a cupcake filled with pink or blue icing.

Because Pryce couldn’t be at their last scan, his wife asked for the gender of their baby to be written on a note, which she’ll give to the baker. “We’ll just have that moment together and then we’ll share it with family and friends,” she explains.

After a decade together, Pryce and Hannaford, who now runs her own online fitness program, FHIT by Lauren Hannaford, say the biggest challenge ahead is working out how to make their family life work with The Wiggles’ demanding travel schedule.

Says Pryce, who is often away up to 300 days a year: “It’s one thing we’ll have to manage because too much time apart isn’t good for anyone. It’s the one thing that’s concerned us the most about having a family – being away so much. We’ll work very hard on finding that balance and making sure Lauren and the baby can come with us. Thankfully, The Wiggles is an organisation that’s very accommodating.”

While the couple have yet to meet Purple Wiggle Gillespie’s twins with fiancée Dana Stephensen, they have seen the babies via Zoom. “They’re sleeping well during the day, apparently,” says Pryce.

“It’d be good if [the baby] could do the occasional backflip.” (Picture: News Corp Australia)

“He’s grabbing some naps when he can.” And while he’s enthused at the idea of having a generation of Wiggly offspring running around the office, he accepts that his may end up being one of the few children in the country who gets fed up with the group’s songs. “It’ll probably be telling me, ‘Dad, stop it’,” he says, laughing.

Hannaford, meanwhile, has used her pregnancy to develop a series of online workouts for expectant mums. The former elite gymnast and Australian Ninja Warrior contestant recorded them with her sister-in-law, who is due to give birth to her second child around the same time, and she says interest in the program surged given that fitness enthusiasts were unable to go to the gym.

As for her own health, apart from some nausea and some early cravings for soda water and salt-and-vinegar chips, she says she’s enjoying her pregnancy, particularly her husband’s constant conversations with her growing bump.

“The amount Simon talks to my tummy and makes me giggle, I’m sure this baby is going to come out laughing,” she says, adding that she can’t wait to have a little version of her husband running around, even if he is likely to be the “pushover parent”.

Simon Pryce and Lauren Hannaford feature in this Sunday’s Stellar.

They also suspect it may be a large baby since Pryce is 194cm tall, and if a caesarean birth is necessary, Hannaford’s cysts will be removed at the same time.

When it comes to talents, however, their offspring has plenty to choose from, with dad being an accomplished singer and actor, and mum a dancer and former champion vaulter and triple-jumper.

But Hannaford has only one wish for their child: “I just want it to be a good person who is empathetic, understanding and treats people with respect.”

Ever the entertainer, Pryce jumps in with a quip: “Yes, but it’d be good if it could do the occasional backflip.”

Originally published as Simon Pryce and Lauren Hannaford: Wiggles couple share road to pregnancy