MAFS star Laura Vaughan left ‘devastated' by double family tragedy after her father's death
Laura opened up on her own shocking health battle to The Sun
MARRIED At First Sight UK star Laura Vaughan has been left heartbroken following the sudden death of her stepfather after losing her biological dad to cancer.
In an emotional statement posted to social media, Laura, 35, revealed her stepdad Rich also died of cancer and said that the loss had left her family 'devastated.'
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Laura rose to fame on MAFS alongside then-husband Arthur
Credit: E4
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Laura spoke out about her heartbreak on Instagram
Credit: Getty
'I've sat with this for weeks, not knowing how to find the words,' she wrote on Instagram.
'A few weeks ago, my family lost my stepdad, Rich – very suddenly to cancer. It has left my family devastated.'
Laura, who rose to fame on the reality show in 2023, also opened up about feelings of guilt over not being as close to Rich in recent years.
She said: 'That's a guilt I will carry with me for the rest of my life and right now, it feels very heavy.'
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The reality star also reflected on the loss of her father to cancer years earlier, adding: 'Lots of you know that I lost my dad to cancer, the same age as my half-sister is now.
'It feels as though sometimes, life plays out the most painful patterns.'
Paying tribute to Rich, she added: 'He came into my life over 20 years ago and brought light and laughter into our family when we really needed it.
'I hope that where you are now, you are at peace and out of pain, and that West Ham are winning every match they play!'
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Laura ended the post by announcing a temporary break from social media.
She said: 'I don't know how to show up online for you guys at the minute and therefore I am going to take a break.
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'Sometimes this world feels so painful, so I'm sending an enormous amount of love to anyone struggling.'
Laura had a failed love match with tennis coach Arthur Poremba, 38, on MAFS.
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She recently opened up to The Sun about her own private battle in a heartbreaking interview - after she was forced to make a terrible decision.
The TV star underwent a heartbreaking medical abortion after unexpectedly finding out she was almost eight months pregnant.
She endured the painful procedure after doctors told her she had been unknowingly putting her unborn foetus at high risk of 'extreme' harm and severe birth defects by taking a powerful drug to treat her acne.
The medical abortion in 2016, when she was 26, left Laura struggling to make sense of what had happened.
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'It was very difficult because I went from not thinking I was pregnant to being seven months pregnant to then having a very prolonged abortion and where I was so far gone,' she told The Sun in an exclusive interview.
'Then, when I got home from the procedure, my milk came in, which, as you can imagine, was just really hard to deal with.
'I hunkered down at home for weeks and didn't talk to anyone.'
Multiple labour attempts
Laura initially thought it was 'impossible' when a Clearblue digital pregnancy test revealed she was expecting.
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And she was even more stunned when doctors told her she was in the third trimester.
Although the former finance manager had been suffering from bloating and missed periods, she says she had been told the symptoms were likely caused by a 'ruptured cyst'.
She'd gone to see a GP about her symptoms - including bloating and pain in her stomach - but when they looked at her medical records they noticed she'd had a ruptured cyst the year before and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and said that was "likely the cause again".
They referred Laura for a scan which she kept forgetting to book.
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Laura was still able to "squeeze into size 6/8 dresses" while not being aware of her pregnancy, and considered her weight gain to be down to bloating the entire time.
She said: "It was literally the week I decided to test that my stomach popped, and I remember thinking 'this isn't right'."
Recalling the moment the Clearblue test came up with the phrase '2-3 weeks [pregnant]", Laura, now an influencer, said: 'My first thought was 'that's impossible'... but then I realised that is how the tests display it, so I could've been pregnant for months - and I was.'
Clearblue's 'weeks indicator' test is designed to be reliable in the early stages of pregnancy.
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Laura's shock at her cryptic pregnancy soon turned into an unimaginable ordeal when she learned the strong acne drug she had been taking, isotretinoin, can cause birth defects.
Due to the risk of birth defects to her foetus, Laura was offered a medical abortion - and, with a heavy heart, she accepted it.
Recalling the hospital procedure itself, she added: 'I went for the abortion and I was meant to be in and out within a day and a half but I ended up being in for nearly a week.
'They could get me to contract but couldn't get me to full labour, and so I was having contractions and then [they were] stopping.
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"It was agony. It was just so awful for my state of mind, too, going into labour multiple times and then nothing.'
Laura, now in a happy and serious relationship, has been put off having children because she 'doesn't want to be reminded of what happened in 2016'.
She added: "We spoke about my abortion and he's the first partner I've told about it for a long time.
"He's been incredibly supportive, and we have discussed having children but neither of us see children in our future."
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