Jess Impiazzi has said she is determined her baby boy will never feel like ‘home isn’t a safe place’ as she opened up about how grief and her difficult childhood have shaped the kind of mother she hopes to be.
The actress, 37, announced the joyous news that she is expecting her first child in January, having undergone IVF while also battling chronic disease lupus.
But the journey to motherhood has also come alongside deep personal loss.
In 2022, Jess was left heartbroken when her father, Colin, died aged 70 after losing his battle with lung cancer.
She has previously spoken about her challenging upbringing in her memoir Silver Linings, revealing the impact of her father’s alcohol addiction and describing a childhood marked by ‘harsh lessons and heartbreak’.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Jess reflected on how those experiences have shaped her approach to motherhood.
Jess Impiazzi has said she is determined her baby will never feel like ‘home isn’t a safe place’ as she opened up about how grief and her difficult childhood have shaped the kind of mother she hopes to be
The actress, 37, announced the joyous news that she is expecting her first child in January, having undergone IVF while also battling chronic disease lupus (pictured with partner Sam)
She said: ‘I don’t want him growing up in some of the circumstances I did.
‘I don’t want my child to ever feel like home isn’t a safe place. I want them to know home is a safe place.
‘I’m so pleased I’m having a child with the man I am because I know that will be the case.
‘Whereas previously in my past relationships, I know that would never have been the case and I’d have been repeating cycles of what I’ve grown up with.
‘Whereas now I know I’ve got a safe place and that’s what my child’s gonna come into.’
She continued: ‘I also want him to be a fierce advocate for women with the things that we keep seeing in the paper, the manosphere and all this.
‘I want to protect him from that, but also educate him around these topics so that he’s an advocate and you know, we need more men like that in the world, and I think now luckily a lot of people are talking about that.
‘Have the respect for people, not just just for women but for everyone, none of this banter that’s actually just constantly putting people down and or things that are actually bad, like thrown off as banter, it’s not banter to hurt someone, not funny.
‘I want him to understand. So hopefully install some good, good traits in him.’
Jess is due to welcome her little one in May with her partner Sam, whom she has been with since the summer of 2024, following her split from footballer ex-boyfriend Jermaine Pennant
Alongside preparing for motherhood, Jess is also focusing on her latest acting project. The actress stars in Jitters, a new horror film written by George Willcox and Marc Zammit
Jess is due to welcome her little one in May with her partner Sam, whom she has been with since the summer of 2024, following her split from footballer ex-boyfriend Jermaine Pennant.
The couple’s pregnancy comes after a long and emotional IVF journey for Jess.
The actress was diagnosed with lupus in 2023 and later revealed she feared early menopause could leave her unable to have children.
Opening up about undergoing IVF while living with a chronic illness, Jess admitted the process was far from easy.
Recalling the experience, she said: ‘It was challenging because I was really scared of the hook.
‘We did a trial one to get my period on the right, setting, so I was using hormone tablets and injections and stuff.
‘And that was, that was quite frightening because I would get flare-ups during different jabs or different times of what the medication was on, because before that I’d been put on HRT so my body was all over the shop, we didn’t really know what was going on.’
‘I was really scared of all this stuff going in my body because I was already on a medication called azathioprine, which I’m still on and hydroxychloroquine and then the steroids and it does frighten you because my body’s just been through so much by this point.
‘I’m just really pleased it worked and we’re now, and I’m now at this stage, I still take my medication but I don’t feel like I’m being pumped with everything now.’
Alongside preparing for motherhood, Jess is also focusing on her latest acting project.
The actress stars in Jitters, a new horror film written by George Willcox and Marc Zammit.
She appears alongside Fabrizio Santino, Anto Sharp and Daniel Jordan.
The film follows a detective investigating the death of a young woman, only to uncover a sinister AI-driven game that preys on players’ deepest fears.
Asked what reaction she hopes audiences will have to the film, Jess laughed: ‘I hope they’re scared.’
She continued: ‘The AI kind of feel is a new kind of Horror because everyone’s saying, oh, what’s gonna happen with AI and we’re actually worried about it.
‘In real life, we’re all a bit, well, is this bad? Are all our jobs gonna be gone?
‘Are we gonna become obsolete, or is it gonna actually kill us, you know, we don’t, we don’t really know where this is going.’
Jitter is scheduled for release on platforms such as Apple TV and will be distributed by Miracle Media on March 16.
