Gemma Atkinson has opened up about a deeply personal health battle affecting her eldest child. The former Hollyoaks actress, who shares two children with Strictly Come Dancing professional Gorka Marquez, revealed that their daughter Mia, six, has been diagnosed with epilepsy after suffering absence seizures.
Speaking on her podcast Just As Well, The Women’s Health Podcast, Gemma explained that Mia would suddenly lose awareness and “zone out.” She admitted, “My daughter is under treatment for epilepsy. She has the absence seizures – it’s not fits or anything, it’s just a stare out. A year in, they’ve got so much better.”
After hearing the diagnosis, Gemma confessed she went down a “research rabbit hole.” She said, “When I was told, I thought, right, I need to research, research, research. And I just went down a rabbit hole.”
Doctors advised Gemma to consider a keto diet for Mia. “The keto diet was designed for patients with epilepsy because it re-wires their brain function,” Gemma revealed. “The doctor told me, if you can get her on a keto diet, it could help with brain function. The improvement we’ve had has been amazing – in the last six months she’s had none, touch wood.”
She also highlighted the surprising history of the treatment, noting that it was first used in the 1930s but much of the research was tragically lost in a hospital fire.
Gemma met fiancé Gorka while competing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017. The couple, now parents to Mia and two-year-old Thiago, became engaged in 2021 but have decided to delay their wedding until their son is older. “If he’s a bit older, he could be involved in it, which would be really nice,” she explained.
