Tricia Goddard got tested to make sure she didn’t have HIV or pass it on to her daughter Billie (Photo: @billiedee_g, Instagram)
Tricia Goddard recalls a heartbreaking moment when she feared transmitting HIV to her daughter after learning of her late husband’s secret battle with AIDS.
The talk-show presenter gave birth to her daughter Billie in 1989, but she suffered a tragedy a few weeks later when her first husband, Australian politician Robert Nestdale, died.
Tricia, 63, was convinced that Robert had lymphoma, but after speaking to family members after the funeral, she learned that he had in fact been diagnosed with AIDS.
The presenter was breastfeeding her baby Billie at the time and was in such a hurry to get tested because she feared she had contracted HIV herself and would pass it on to her daughter.
Tricia told of her ordeal, to the sun: I don’t know how I did it. I was Robert’s wife, but I didn’t know he had AIDS.
I remember going for that test and being afraid someone would take blood from my little baby.
Tricia was relieved when the doctor told her that Billy didn’t need to be tested because they knew that HIV was most likely transmitted through his mother’s blood sample.
Tricia gave birth to her daughter Billie in 1989 (Photo: @billiedee_g, Instagram).
I will never forget the horrible feeling that I may have transmitted the disease through my milk. It was your worst nightmare. When I heard my test was negative, I collapsed and cried, she says.
With her second husband Mark Grieve, Tricia reunited with her daughter Billie – the two began dating in 1987 after her marriage to Robert ended. The couple, who had another daughter, married in 1993, but their relationship ended three years later.
Tricia was married to Peter Gianfrancesco since 1998 before they separated in 2017.
Tricia will appear in Piers Morgan’s Life Stories this Thursday (Photo: PA).
Billie, now 31, came into the spotlight last year when she landed a role in Channel 4 reality series Bridge.
The contestant admitted that her mother, Tricia, was a little worried when she heard that her daughter had agreed to participate in the show.
Speaking to the Met, Billie said earlier: In the beginning she was a bit worried, because of course we had no idea what kind of show it would be. I think when I first talked to her about it, she thought it was something like Love Island, and she was really worried about it.
Read more: Tricia Goddard
When I came out and told her what it was, she was very excited. She’s very proud of me.
Tricia will talk about her past experiences in Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, which airs this Thursday at 9pm on ITV.
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