Presenter Danni Menzies has given an update after opening up about her fertility journey online. The former A Place in the Sun star, 37, revealed in December that she was freezing her eggs, adding that she had chosen to share her journey with her social media followers to help combat the stigma that surrounded the process.
“Always a funny one sharing such personal things on social media, however I also think it’s important to do so. There’s a lot of stigma around starting later and freezing your eggs and I don’t think it’s something we should shy away from,” she said at the time.
As a single person, Danni, who had a horrific moped accident in 2022, spent a long time thinking about the decision. “I worried about fertility in my early 30s before the accident. A year or so beforehand, one of my friends found out she couldn’t conceive at the age of 32. That makes you go, ‘Oh, is that going to be me?’ I had no idea,” she has told the Mirror.
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“For two years after the accident, I wasn’t thinking about anything like that. I was just trying to get my head back into a good place. Now that I’m out the other side, I feel like I lost the last few years in terms of my career and dating at a really important time in my life.”
In February, Danni revealed that she’d retrieved 10 healthy eggs. After sharing the news online, Danni was inundated with supportive messages. “Ahhh well done Danni! Thank you for sharing your experience,” wrote one. “Fantastic Danni and brilliant for you to share something so personal. This will really help a lot of women, I’m sure,” another added.
Following her experience, the TV presenter is determined to continue to raise awareness of the subject that she holds close to her heart. “I still want all the things I wanted before. I’d like to meet someone and have children and I still want to make it in my career and do some bigger, better things,” she says.
“That’s going to take longer now because I had a massive setback. If I’m realistic about that, it means I can’t really take time out for children in the next two or three years at least. That’’ a hard pill to swallow because you want to be able to have it all.
“Luckily there are things available, like egg freezing. Had the accident not happened I may not be in a position where I needed to do it, but maybe I would, who knows? But it’s definitely something that I’ve thought about for a while.”
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Danni, who hosted A Place in the Sun for six years, is back on our screens with A Place in the Sun: What Happened Next which will see her reunite with house hunters from series gone by – something she considers an “amazing” opportunity.
“I was working with people I already knew on something I was already familiar with, so it was amazing to go back and do that. It really was the right time,” she says.
Things are looking bright elsewhere, too. As part of her post-accident recovery, Danni “did a lot of soul searching” and made some life-changing decisions, including giving up alcohol, training five times a week, and putting her flat on the market. “It’s scary but I feel weirdly calm about everything. I had a plan and the plan is happening,” she says.
“I just know there’s something big around the corner. I don’t know where it is or how it’s going to happen, but I can feel it in my bones. I’ve been through the wringer with everything that’s happened, and I know that something really great is going to happen soon.”
A Place in the Sun: What Happened Next? broadcasts weekdays at 6pm on Channel 4
