Actress Emily Atack has revealed she developed sepsis after giving birth to her first child. The 36-year-old, known for her role in The Inbetweeners, welcomed son Barney with fiancé Alistair Garner in 2024.
Speaking to Grazia magazine, Atack said she was unable to leave her house for weeks following the birth. “I was very ill after the birth. I had sepsis, I couldn’t leave the house for weeks. It was awful,” she said.
The star also opened up about trolling she experienced during and after pregnancy. She said she was criticised for being “enormous” while pregnant, and later faced comments about her weight loss. Atack denied using weight-loss jabs and said: “I’m just asking for people for a little bit of patience and understanding at such a complex thing. Women’s bodies change all the time. I am so done with defending it.”
Atack also spoke about inappropriate behaviour she has faced in the entertainment industry. She said that as a teenager she learned to accept “touching me, whispering things in my ear between takes when nobody was listening, or texting me outside of work hours with inappropriate things”. She added: “My whole life, I’ve been sexually harassed.”
The actress is now focusing on her health and looking forward to her wedding in September. She recently returned to work on the Disney+ series Rivals, an adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel.
