While many recognise Rosanna Davison as Miss World 2003, she is also an established author, campaigner and mum-of-three.
The model is the latest cover star for our Goss.ie Spotlight On feature, and in this interview she opens up about life with three young kids, her struggle to be recognised as her daughter’s legal parent, and helping her Ukrainian surrogate flee her war-torn country.
She also shares her family’s plans for the Christmas holidays, and reveals which popular reality show she decided to turn down…
Following years of fertility issues, Rosanna and her husband Wes Quirke welcomed their first child, a daughter named Sophia, via gestational surrogate in November 2019.
Months after her daughter was born, the former Miss World fell pregnant with her “miracle” twins Oscar and Hugo, after suffering 15 miscarriages in the past.
At present, the 38-year-old is not legally recognised as Sophia’s mother as surrogacy is currently unregulated in Irish law.
In October, Goss.ie honoured Rosanna as Woman of the Year at our inaugural Women of the Year Awards for her courage and openness about fertility, and her tirelessness and dedication to campaigning for surrogacy rights.
In this interview, Rosanna revealed her hopes to soon be recognised as Sophia’s legal parent with the forthcoming introduction of new legislation in Ireland.
Alongside her work as a model and mum-of-three, the qualified nutritionist has also added author to her multi-talented bow, as she’s written two cookbooks titled Eat Yourself Beautiful and Eat Yourself Fit.
The 38-year-old subsequently penned an emotional memoir about becoming a mum following years of fertility issues, titled When Dreams Come True: My Heartbreak and Hope on My Journey to Motherhood, which was published late last year.
Having already achieved so much in her career so far, what could possibly be next for the woman who seems to have it all?
Find out more by reading our exclusive chat with Rosanna below:
Q. It’s been a very busy year for you – what have been your highlights of 2022?
Well, of course being named Goss.ie’s Woman of the Year – that was a huge highlight. I’m still in disbelief that I was, so that was a lovely moment and a really special day, a huge thank you to Goss.ie for that.
Apart from that, there’s been lots with the family. My twin boys started walking at the beginning of the year which was a lovely milestone. We’ve had lots of fun with them over the year. Our daughter Sophia started preschool at the end of August, so that was another special moment.
It’s been the first year that we haven’t been on an airplane, we haven’t travelled at all so looking back at the summer, we spent most of the summer in our garden but thankfully the weather was really good and we were able to sit out most evenings once the kids had gone to bed. So, in ways it was unusual because we didn’t go far.
I made it to Wexford twice just to visit my grandmother, otherwise we’ve only made it to Wicklow. It’s been difficult really to get anywhere with three young toddlers. But, it’s been a lovely year and actually looking back we had plenty of fun moments and special moments and mainly I’m just grateful for the fact that everyone I love is healthy and happy and here. That’s all you can ask for really at the end of the year.
Q. You mentioned that you were awarded the Woman of the Year Award at Goss.ie’s inaugural Women of the Year Awards. What does it mean to you to be considered such a role model and inspiration to so many women?
My goodness, it’s hard to see yourself I think in that sort of context sometimes. I think it’s the same for everybody, you have an idea of who you are and maybe you don’t consider yourself in that way. We’re never really aware of who we are to other people. It’s funny, I know who I am inside and it’s hard to see myself from other people’s perspective.
It was just a huge surprise first of all. [Goss.ie Founder and CEO] Ali [Ryan] asked me to go, and I just thought it would be a lovely lunch. I had friends going and I’m always grateful for a day out these days to get out of the house for a few hours. So, it was just a really special moment and I’m still quite shocked that I was awarded it.
But, you know, if I can be in a position to be able to spread an important message, whether its about looking after others or helping others by sharing my stories about surrogacy and fertility struggles, or helping our surrogate move over from Ukraine when she needed us most, or if I can be in a position to use my profile to drive change in legislation, which is hopefully coming very soon.
I’m grateful to be in that position and I want to be able to use my position in the best possible way and sort of influence others and inspire others as much as I can. So, I’m just grateful to be given the opportunities that I’ve been given as well. It all worked out in a positive way. I’m just so grateful to Ali and the Goss.ie team for recognising that.
Q. Do you find that there’s a pressure associated with being a role model/inspiration?
I wouldn’t say a pressure, I don’t feel it from the outside. I do put pressure on myself to make the right decisions every day, and being a mother means that you’re constantly looking after others.
I find my whole mentality has changed – I don’t even recognise the person I used to be before children and it’s just because I’m in a position now where I’m constantly worrying about their well-being, if they’ve been fed or had a nappy change or slept well. You sort of forget a little bit about yourself.
Everything I’ve done in terms of spreading awareness about fertility and infertility, surrogacy and helping with the legislation and campaigning around surrogacy and then bringing our surrogate over – all of those things are, I suppose, an extension of how I think or my thought process nowadays, because I’m just always thinking about others and what they need and how I can help them.
Sometimes I do have to remember to think about myself as well and whether I’ve eaten today, or whether I’ve had enough sleep. But certainly as I said it is the way now that my thoughts are and an extension of that.
Q. You won praise earlier this year for helping your Ukrainian surrogate and her family flee the war and move to Ireland. How have they been doing?
They are doing great. They’ve been here since April and they’ve really settled in. I’m blown away by how practical and hardworking they’ve been. The two women have both got full-time jobs and their little girl is in a local school.
They’ve just settled in to life in Ireland really well. Our surrogate’s partner recently celebrated her birthday and sent me a message saying how grateful she is to not only us, but to Ireland in general – to the Irish people, and the Irish government for giving them this opportunity.
Irish people have been extraordinarily welcoming to Ukrainians fleeing the war and hugely supportive. I couldn’t have done it without the support of so many others. Ali was so supportive and came over with bags of pyjamas and toys and coats and things for the family. People have gone out of their way to help them and support them. It’s just been amazing to see how helpful humans can be in times of crisis.
Q. What are your plans for Christmas?
To be honest, we’re keeping it fairly simple as much as we can because life is so busy with the children and work has been really busy for both me and Wes. On Christmas Day, we’ll be going over to the family house in Wicklow and my brothers will be there. They live in London, and they’ll be flying over this week or next.
We’ll probably go on Christmas Eve. We’ll probably get together and watch a Christmas movie, which will have to be a kiddie-friendly movie. Usually my brother wants to watch Die Hard which isn’t really that Christmassy, but we’ll have to watch something more suitable for little ones and hope that they’ll sit down for long enough.
But yeah, we’ll get together Christmas Eve, then go over again on Christmas Day for just a really nice family day spent together. I think for most people as well, families aren’t always together all the time or in the same room, lots of people travel and live abroad.
For us it’ll be really nice to have everyone together in the same place for even the day or the couple of days. My brothers are brilliant with the kids as well, so I’m always grateful for a spare pair of hands to help out – at least I can sit down and have a cup of tea if I want to.
So, just looking forward to that. In years past before we had kids we used to go away just after Christmas to the sun and that involved packing, and being organised and getting to the airport – that sort of thing, but we just haven’t taken on anything like that this year.
One aim for next year is to get away and bring the children to the beach. The boys have never been to the beach before. You just have to simplify everything.
Q. You previously admitted that the festive season used to be quite a difficult and lonely time for you before you had children. Can you explain what you meant by that?
Yeah, there were few years where we were trying to have a family and it wasn’t working out and we were spending a lot of time either dealing with early miscarriages or time spent visiting fertility clinics and specialists.
I used to find Christmas very difficult because it really becomes apparent when you want to have a family but it’s not happening for you that Christmas is so much about children and making it magical for children and Santa visits and the excitement of Christmas for little ones.
I was just desperate to experience that with my own family. So, I used to do everything to distract myself and throw myself into work. The Christmas of 2018 going into ’19, I was doing my Master’s, so my dissertation was due mid-January and I was delighted with that because it meant all throughout Christmas I was just sitting at my computer.
I didn’t have to be distracted by anything else and even Christmas Day I got up early to write some of my dissertation – it’s crazy to think about. But that’s how I dealt with things, just throw myself into some other project and all the distraction of that. So, you only really notice that when you look back at things like that. Human behaviour is quite complex.
But anyway, this year we’re really enjoying everything and this year we’re going to as many Santa experiences as possible and we have another Santa visit next week and really just soaking it all up with them. It’s been lovely. They get so excited.
In the morning we open their advent calendars, and do the countdown and turn on the Christmas tree and lights. Every morning the excitement levels are through the roof, and it’s a great distraction if someone’s having a meltdown to say ‘Look at the Christmas lights!’ So we find that really helpful!
Q. You welcomed your gorgeous daughter Sophia via surrogacy, and you have spoken out a lot in the past about the fact that there are no laws in Ireland to govern either domestic or international surrogacy. The Cabinet is now expected to approve the drafting of a number of amendments that will seek to recognise families created through international surrogacy. What does that mean to you?
As you know, I’ve been involved in driving the campaign over the past year, and I’ve shared my voice alongside so many other families across Ireland with children born through surrogacy. Irish citizens are just being denied basic equality rights. It’s been a matter of urgency for a number of families.
For us, we’re just waiting to hear on the retrospective of international surrogacy laws which apply to us. Once they’re put through as I’m told they will be soon enough – hopefully within the next six months, fingers crossed – it just means we can apply for the parental order through the courts and that’s, I’m told by our solicitor, very straight forward paperwork.
It just means that I will legally be Sophia’s mother, which I’ve been hoping for for all this time. But we’re getting there. Again, its through the hard work of so many people and through people like Mark [Feehily] from Westlife and Brian Dowling has spoken about surrogacy more recently.
This is about children ultimately but also its about same-sex couples, its about married couples like us, its about everybody having equal rights as the parents of a child. It’s about children having equality.
I don’t want to have that conversation with Sophia when she’s old enough to understand, that she’s not ‘equal’ to her brothers and she’ll face discrimination in certain aspects. It’s psychologically distressing for a young person to have to deal with that. There are lots of reasons why it’s important to us.
Q. You married your husband Wes in 2014, and your 10-year wedding anniversary is coming up in 2024. Do you think you’ll mark the occasion in any special way? Would you ever consider renewing your vows?
We haven’t talked about it yet, but I’m sure we will. We got married over in Ibiza and had a long weekend of celebrations there. Our friends have been saying ‘Let’s do the same again and make a long weekend of it.’ So, we might do that. It would tie in with birthdays and other celebrations. We might do a big trip in 2024 and start to plan it soon. The kids will be older, so we might be able to get some help with family for them.
Q. You previously told us that you were approached by MTV to film a reality show about your family, but you turned it down. Do you think you would ever do a TV show like that down the line, or is that completely off the cards?
At the moment, yeah it’s not really an option. I’m sort of glad we made that decision because it was such a busy time and special time as well. Particularly being in lockdown as well, Wes was home and being with everyone and he wasn’t in work. We’re so grateful for that time we had together.
As always I’d say ‘never say never’, but it’s not a big goal of ours to do reality TV or expose our children in that way. As you know, we don’t put them on social media as much as possible, well to the extent that they’re not recognisable. So, yeah I don’t dismiss things completely because life has a very strange way of twisting and turning. But it’s not a goal, certainly at the moment.
Q. Even though reality TV isn’t on your agenda, would you ever consider doing a show like I’m A Celeb or Dancing with the Stars?
Again, I met with bosses at ITV years ago for I’m A Celeb. I’m talking twelve years ago I think. But again it just wasn’t the right time and I remember thinking I’d have to eat all the gruesome things and I just couldn’t bear that. So, I’m not sure.
Maybe one of the dancing shows. It would be a great way to learn a new skill. I’ll be watching Dancing with the Stars in January and Dancing On Ice is great and Strictly Come Dancing – those sort of ones. I love ones where you can learn a new skill for life.
But you need the time, again I couldn’t even consider it until the kids are in school when I’d have a bit more time. At the moment I’m lucky if I even get an hour when they’re asleep during the day. That’s just the way it is. But huge respect to anyone who goes on those shows. I love watching people progress each week, so it’ll be nice to watch over the next few months.
Q. You have a massive social media following, and it seems like the comments you receive online are mostly very positive. Do you ever experience online trolling and if so, how do you deal with it?
Do you know what, I’m lucky. Not a huge extent. I try to just make sure my social media reflects who I am in day to day life. I share a lot of my life – behind-the-scenes stuff, the mum stuff, the chaos and the mess.
It’s just about trying to capture the chaos at home and the tears, tantrums and the mess and everything. But then again the lovely side, the joy, love, laughter and cuddles. I have the side of me that’s more glamourous, and I have my work life as well. It’s just trying to show every aspect, but just make it as relatable as possible.
It’s tricky to think about in a way what to put up today or talk about, especially when I’ve such limited time to do it. But it’s lovely to share my journey as a mum and my journey as a working mum as well and the challenges that brings.
But I don’t get an awful lot of trolling and I just deal with it by blocking. Blocking people and sometimes deleting if its a really unnecessary, mean comment, I’ll block and delete. I don’t really engage in drama, I have enough drama in my own house. I think you become quite careful as well having kids, you become quite protective of your energy and quite protective over what you spend your energy doing. Engaging in internet slagging matches isn’t something I have the time for.
Q. You are an incredibly stylish person. Have you ever considered starting your own clothing company?
Yeah, I’ve considered all of that. Everything from things like supplements because of my background in nutrition to makeup, skincare, clothes. Again it just comes down to having the time to commit to something. I do see myself doing something in the next few years.
It would need to be really when the kids are in school and I have that longer stretch of time during the day. If I do set up my own business or own brand, which I would love to do in the future, it would have to be something I would be prepared to commit to fully.
I’d want to do the best I can and make the most of it. That comes down to having the time to put into it and build a team of people around me and create what I want to create.
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It’s also about seeing what’s needed out there. I don’t just want to come out with a product for the sake of it, it would have to be something that’s important to me and necessary. As they say, the best business ideas are about solving a problem or finding a niche in the market.
It’s about looking out for that. It might be something to do with supporting new mums or to go back to my interest in health and nutrition. I’m always looking at different ideas, but at the moment what I’m doing is keeping me fully occupied.
I still feel like there’s plenty of times going into my 40s to look at things. Again, having a family changes your perspective on what you need as a woman and as a person and changes perspective on lots of things. I’m grateful to have waited until now and the future to do anything like that.
Q. You have achieved so much, personally and professionally, in your life so far. What is left on your bucket list?
I’ve ticked off a lot of things that I wanted to do like the books and all the travel. I’ve had to put travel for work to one side for now. There’s stuff always coming in because I’ve management over in Europe.
I was asked to go over and do something the other day and it was just so last minute I couldn’t manage it. Down the line I would love to go back to travelling for work and generally just travelling for the fun of it.
I suppose professionally the next thing I’d like to do as I just mentioned is coming up with my own business or brand idea. Something relevant and something that will help people. It’s all about helping people and helping people to live easier lives and supporting others in what they’re going through. I feel like I am in a position where I’m able to use my voice to help others. That would be it.
Q. What advice do you wish you could give your younger self?
I think it would be to worry less about things that won’t be important to me in a couple of years time. To worry less about what people think of you, because really its not relevant and it’s none of your business what people think of you.
I’m happy I don’t have any major regrets in life because I think you make your decisions at the time for the best possible reasons and based on all the knowledge you have on the time.
I would warn myself how quickly the years go by, if anything. I remember being 18 and finishing school and going to UCD thinking ‘I’ll do this course now, and maybe this course’ and thinking I had all the time in the world. But the years speed up quite quickly and you find yourself 20 years later.
I have no regrets in terms of the time I’ve spent with family or the time I’ve given to my friendships. I’ve done all of that as best I possibly can. I don’t have any regrets. Don’t stress too much and travel as much as you can.
Q. What are your goals/resolutions for 2023?
The main one as I mentioned is to get out of the country for a change of scenery, which would be nice. As I said, we did have a lovely summer so that was great but I just can’t wait to bring the children on a plane.
Even if it was a staycation, I’d be happy with that – bring them to the beach. Even if we can go down to Wexford over the summer, I’d be really happy with that. Wexford has the best beaches. Another is just to continue doing what we’re doing in life, trying to stay as sane as possible with sleep deprivation.
I’ve had a run of about three or four nights now with toddlers up at night. So that’s kind of the main aim for next year – to stay healthy and happy, and hope that everyone around me is the same as well.
