Tom Daley and husband Dustin Lance Black announce birth of first child by surrogacy

Tom Daley and his husband Dustin Lance Black have announced the birth of their first child – named after the diver’s late father.

The Olympic diver, 24 and his film producer beau, 44, revealed Robert Ray was born on Wednesday in an announcement in The Times. Daley’s father Robert died of a brain tumour in May 2011.  

They got married in a castle wedding ceremony in May last year and announced they were having a child in February.  

Robert Ray will be raised in London after the couple made the ‘difficult’ decision to choose to live in the UK despite negative reaction to their surrogacy. 

Tom Daley (right) and his husband Dustin Lance Black (left) have announced the birth of their first child

The Olympic diver, 24 and his film producer beau, 44, revealed Robert Ray was born on Wednesday in an announcement in The Times (pictured)

The Olympic diver, 24 and his film producer beau, 44, revealed Robert Ray was born on Wednesday in an announcement in The Times (pictured)

In an interview with The Times, Daley said they both provided sperm to fertilise their surrogate’s eggs, but do not wish to know who the biological father is.

Hinting at another child in the pipeline, he told the newspaper: ‘We found an egg donor and we are the sperm donors, we have fertilised half the eggs each. 

‘We put in a boy embryo and a girl embryo and we don’t know whose is whose. The next time we will do it the other way around.’ 

In another interview earlier this year Daley revealed he was going to be spending less time diving in order to look after his newborn.

He said: ‘Diving is no longer my No.1. My child is my No.1 and diving is my No.2’ 

They got married in a castle wedding ceremony in May last year and announced they were having a child in February (baby shower pictured) 

They got married in a castle wedding ceremony in May last year and announced they were having a child in February (baby shower pictured) 

Daley and his husband announced they were having a child with a baby scan picture posted on Instagram earlier this year 

Daley and his husband announced they were having a child with a baby scan picture posted on Instagram earlier this year 

Speaking to BBC Radio earlier this year, Black, a passionate LGBT campaigner, said the British reaction to their baby announcement was different to the one in the States.

He said: ‘In the US, where we’ve been working with our surrogate, the reception was incredibly warm, with almost no exception,’ he said.

But, he added, that in the UK ‘We heard things that weren’t so friendly. Maybe because there are misconceptions about surrogacy here.’  

Robert Ray will be raised in London after the couple (pictured on holiday in Venice) made the 'difficult' decision to choose to the UK despite negative reaction to their surrogacy

Robert Ray will be raised in London after the couple (pictured on holiday in Venice) made the ‘difficult’ decision to choose to the UK despite negative reaction to their surrogacy

He went on: ‘But we love this country, this country is home for us. Tom is incredibly proud to represent this country.

‘So we are going to take this incredibly difficult route to raise our child here.’  

It is not known who the surrogate is and the couple have said they wish to keep her identity a secret.

They said they spoke to her ‘every day’ of her pregnancy. 

First time fathers: Tom Daley (left) and husband Dustin Lance Black are pictured together 

First time fathers: Tom Daley (left) and husband Dustin Lance Black are pictured together 



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