Rosanna Davison has invited her Ukrainian surrogate to live with her in Ireland, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of her country.
The former Miss World and her husband Wes Quirke welcomed their first child Sophia via gestational surrogate in November 2019.
The woman who carried their baby daughter is based in the city of Kherson, which has been seized by Russian soldiers in recent days.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Rosanna said she’s been in touch with her surrogate over the past week, and has offered to give her a place to live.
“I’ve been demented and sick with worry, seeing the situation getting worse. I feel very protective of her, I’ve invited her to come live with us,” she said.
“I said to her that we will give her a place to live with her daughter that’s safe. We’ll look after her, and she can see Sophia again.”
“I’ve been messaging her constantly checking if she’s safe and if her building been bombed. She said there’s shooting going on all around her, she can hear bombs going off.”
Rosanna continued: “They’re running out of food, she’s hemmed in on all sides and she can’t get out. I’m very upset – I’m in bits over it. We owe everything to her.”
“I’ve been donating money to organisations on the ground like Unicef Ireland. I’ve donated baby supplies and nappies to another organisation. It’s hard to know what to do, beyond that.”
“So I thought at least I can offer her a safe place to live in, who knows what will happen to the Ukraine. To give her the option at least so she knows she has somewhere safe to come to.”
“We just don’t think at this point she will be able to leave the city, as it’s surrounded on all sides by the Russian military and it was confirmed today that Russia has officially taken over her city.”
“She said to me yesterday she was very scared but they were safe and there was a lot of gunfire outside and a lot of commotion,” the mother-of-three explained.
“She said there was still running water and electricity but she doesn’t know for how long it will be there and food is starting to run out. Things are worsening where she is.”
“We’re so concerned about her, she is the woman who gave birth to Sophia, if something happened to her, we’d be absolutely devastated.”
“Sophia developed in the womb in this city, that’s how close it is for us. If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have Sophia.”
The 37-year-old said “we all need to step up and do what we can” to help the people of Ukraine.
“Irish people are incredibly generous from what I’ve heard and seen over the last week; they are helping and doing everything they can,” she said.
“The next step will be to take in Ukrainian refugees and do what we can as part of Europe. The Ukrainians are good people and they want to lead a peaceful life as much as we do in Ireland.”
“It’s such a desperately sad situation for everyone and myself and Wes are heartbroken.”
