"It's exciting" -Sheffield footballer Millie Bright makes pregnancy announcement
The Lioness used to play for Sheffield United
Lioness legend Millie Bright has announced she is expecting her first baby.
The footballer, who started out playing for grassfoots club Killamarsh Dynamos when she was a young girl, was then scouted by Sheffield United.
From there she moved to Doncaster Belles and Leeds Ladies, before becoming Chelsea captain and a star of the senior England squad, which she also captained.
Announcing her baby news, she said: “It’s overwhelming, it’s exciting to bring another life into the world.”
Her partner, Tom Mitchell, admitted he was “very surprised” when she told him the news.
They have been together five months.
Millie’s partner is a barber and influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram.
He owns a salon in Sheffield.
Millie told Women’s Health that pregnancy had not been without its challenges so far.
“It’s been difficult. I’m used to being very athletic and my body fitting into certain clothes, and that’s been changing,” she said,
“Now I’m embracing it and I feel good about myself, confident and happy, because I’m getting to the stage where I look pregnant and feel pregnant, whereas before I just felt unfit.”
She said she had suffered with sickness early in the pregnancy.
Millie was honoured with an OBE from the Prince of Wales earlier this year.
She announced her retirement from football in April.
The footballer won 88 caps during her England career and won the European Championship on home soil in 2022, before captaining the side to the World Cup final the following year, where England were narrowly beaten by Spain in the tournament's showpiece.
When she announced her retirement, England boss Sarina Wiegman said the footballer will "forever be an England legend".