Actress Tina Malone has said she is going to have another child at the age of 54 via a surrogate.
The former Shameless star has a 35-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and in 2013, at the age of 50, Malone welcomed daughter Flame with husband Paul Chase, 35.
Malone said she knows people will criticise her decision to have a child at her age, but that she does not care as she is doing it for her family.
Due to her husband's fears over her having a baby at her age they have opted for surrogacy, which also gives them the option of choosing the child's gender.
Malone told the Sunday People: "Some will say I am selfish and irresponsible for having another child at 54.
"They will moralise and abuse me - even more so for selecting the sex of our baby - and everyone is entitled to their opinion."
But she said did not care what anyone thought: "I am doing this for Flame and for my husband, not just myself.
"I am healthy, of sound mind, solvent - and a bloody brilliant mother."
Malone and former soldier Chase, who married in 2010, have embryos still frozen in Cyprus after she underwent IVF treatment in 2013.
Malone said: "We still have eight embryos frozen in Cyprus. And whenever we went there I'd cry, moan and say to Paul: 'Please let me have another one.'
"But Paul won't let me risk my life."
While pregnant with Flame, the TV star developed life-threatening pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects women in up to 6% of pregnancies, according to the NHS, and is characterised by dangerously high blood pressure.
Her husband said: "I couldn't let Tina risk another pregnancy. Flame and I love her too much."
Malone is known for playing Mimi Maguire in the Bafta award-winning Channel 4 drama Shameless, as well as appearing in Brookside and Dinnerladies.