PA
Singer Charlotte Church has revealed how a newspaper broke the news of her first pregnancy before she could tell family and friends – and before the 12-week scan.
An emotional Church told the Leveson Inquiry into media practices that while she was pregnant, The Sun ran a story with the headline "Church sober shock".
Because she was in the first trimester, it was a very sensitive time, the singer said. And she said that although she had no idea whether her phone was hacked, she couldn't see where else the story had originated.
"My family were really upset that it had come out in this way," said Church. "It was my news to tell and they took that away from me. It should have been left up to me to tell people."
The 25-year-old mum of Ruby, three, and Dexter, two, complained to the Press Complaints Commission about the report, but still remained angry.
"There was a small retraction but I just don't think that would deter another paper in the future," she said.
Church, who separated from her rugby star fiance Gavin Henson last year, said she had agreed to testify at the inquiry because of what she went through when she was younger – from the age of 12.
"I've agreed to be here today because I think that the things I went through when I was quite young, I was a minor, 12 years old, I want to show through my experiences that it's imperative that children are protected," she said.