Big Brother star Brian Dowling insists 'it's not a gay issue' as he hits out at surrogacy laws
Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian have two daughters, Blake and Blu, through a surrogate, Dowling’s sister Aoife, and she is recognised on their birth certificate but not him
![Big Brother star Brian Dowling insists 'it's not a gay issue' as he hits out at surrogacy laws](https://europe.easybranches.com/uploads/news/2024/08/6696237.jpg)
Former Big Brother host Brian Dowling has hit out surrogacy laws after he revealed he is not recognised as the father of the two children he shares with his partner.
Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian have two daughters, Blake and Blu, through a surrogate, Dowling’s sister Aoife, and she is recognised on their birth certificate but not him, he says.
The Irish TV presenter, 46, told ITV’s Loose Women: "I think in Ireland, the lack of legislation, I think people sometimes always see surrogates as victims and my sister Aoife is certainly no victim.
READ MORE - Brian Dowling hits out at unsolicited parenting advice and shares troll’s message
READ MORE - Arthur Gourounlian and Brian Dowling consider legal action over 'disgusting' online abuse
"She’s a very strong, strong woman, and just so graceful and just handled it with… I don’t know where she gets her strength from, honestly, because what she’s done is so courageous, and kind of put herself in the firing line as well for a lot of hatred, a lot of trolling."
He added that everyone has "the same rights over my children," as he does currently.
Dowling says: "Arthur is the biological father of both our children. I even hate saying that sentence, because I feel like it, degrades and devalues my relationship with my children at the moment.
"Aoife is the legal mother to both our children, not the biological mother, because we used an egg donor, and, Arthur is biological father, so they’re on the birth certificate. I’m not.
"And we are hoping there will be a time soon in Ireland where my name will be on it. I feel like, because it’s a legal document for the girls, and that, we are both their parents, and also for Aoife.
"Aoife doesn’t want her name on a legal document, for a child that’s not hers. Change is needed, change is coming, but you have to fight hard to get it. I think people think surrogacy is a gay issue. It’s not a gay issue, it’s a family issue. It affects so many people, and so many people have been fighting this fight long before us."
He also said he was "very fearful of what the relationship would be like" between his first child and Aoife, but she is seen as their aunt.
"We’ve never done this before," Arthur said. "So we’re just floating into this water, just going with the flow."
Dowling, from Co Kildare, won the second series of the reality show in 2001, and triumphed on the spin-off show Ultimate Big Brother in 2010.
He took over from Davina McCall, when the reality series moved to Channel 5. Dowling was replaced by Emma Willis, and the show was then cancelled in 2018 before being resurrected by ITV in 2023.
Dowling is a presenter on ITVBe reality series The Real Housewives Of Cheshire.
Sign up to the Irish Mirror's daily newsletter here and get breaking news and top stories direct to your inbox