Ashley James reveals she will undergo surgery after battling incontinence for nearly six years following 'traumatic' birth of her son

Ashley James has revealed she will undergo surgery after suffering from urinary and faecal incontinence for nearly six years.

Ashley, 39, was left with incontinence after she was stitched up incorrectly following a missed third-degree tear during the traumatic birth of her son Alfie in 2021. 

The former Made in Chelsea star, 39, shares Alfie, five, and three-year-old daughter Ada, with her partner Tommy Andrews.

Over the weekend she raised awareness of her health issue when she posed in a pair of incontinence pants and detailed her 'humiliating' and 'humbling' trip to Paris with Tommy. 

Speaking on This Morning on Wednesday, Ashley revealed she has now decided to undergo surgery.

'When you experience something like incontinence, you have to plan your days and evenings around this physical thing that nobody on the outside really sees but you know can happen,' she explained to Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.

'I try not to feel shame or embarrassment around it. The reason we are so shamed into silence, it doesn't help anybody, it doesn't help women.

'And it is something where you feel you're the only person going through it, or you're embarrassed.

Ashley admitted it was only when she spoke to a private health physiotherapist that she realised what she was experiencing post birth 'was not normal'.

'I think because of so much secrecy and mystery around birth, I just assumed, in the "mother and baby doing fine" that maybe everyone goes through this but no one talks about it because it's really embarrassing and humiliating,' she said. 

Ashley is now planning to have surgery to deal with her double incontinence and said she has her first appointment to discuss the procedure later this week.

'For anyone that experiences incontinence, it's not something you have to put up with. And I will have to have surgery but it's just the trauma of it,' she said.

Ashley opened up about her issues when she posed in a pair of incontinence pants for a photo shared with her 843k Instagram followers over the weekend.

The This Morning star headed to the French capital with her partner Tommy Andrews to watch Celine Dion's residency as a birthday treat, but disaster struck when she left her wash bag containing her incontinence pads on the Eurostar.

She explained in her social media post: 'Lots of you will know that since having Alf I’ve lived with various birth complications, and one of them is incontinence.

'Anyway, I managed to leave my wash bag on the Eurostar, which had my Tena pads in it, so there I was having to send Tommy out in Paris to buy me some more.

'Half the Champs-Élysées was closed because of the Pope, but off he went, eventually returning not with pads, but Tena PANTS. Needs must.

'And honestly, no matter how glam I may look sometimes, there’s something very humbling about the reality of pulling on your Tena pants.'

Praising her supportive partner, with whom she shares Alfie, five, and Ada, three, she continued: 'I’m so grateful to have a partner who has never made me feel embarrassed about any of it, but also, that should be the bar.

'I have these birth injuries because I gave birth to our children, and so many of us live with birth injuries, with nowhere near enough postpartum care, while somehow being made to feel like the consequences are embarrassing or a failure on our part.

'They’re not. Our bodies go through huge, sometimes permanent sacrifices to bring children into the world, and we deserve support, not shame.'

The former Made in Chelsea star went on to share how she no longer feels 'shame' in sharing her incontinence story as she's had so many messages from women with similar experiences.

She said: 'My DMs were FULL of women saying “me too”, with so many of you saying it feels like a dirty secret, and actually all of your messages reminded me there really is no shame ❤️

'I’m still doing my pelvic floor training, still putting off the surgery, but in the meantime I’m not letting it stop me living my life.'

Her empowering post was met with a plethora of supportive messages from her fans and showbiz pals, with many sharing their own journeys while lauding her for raising awareness.