Ex In The Style founder Adam Frisby and fiancé Jamie Corbett reveal it will take eight months to legally become the parents of their surrogate baby

Ex In The Style founder Adam Frisby has revealed the struggle he and his fiancé Jamie Corbett are facing to become the legal parents of their surrogate baby. 

The couple detailed their journey on This Morning on Tuesday and explained why they travelled to America to welcome Leven Rose, three months old, via a surrogate and an egg donor. 

They sat down with hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard as they explained that, after the lengthy surrogacy process across the pond where they are recognised as Leven's parents, they are facing a legal battle here in the UK. 

Now back in Britain, Adam and Jamie are no longer recognised as Leven's legal parents due to differences in law surrounding surrogacy - with Leven's surrogate instead recognised as her mother. 

The couple opened up about launching a government petition to change the law on surrogacy, revealing it could eight to ten months to be classed as their daughter's parents.

Speaking about their decision to travel to the USA for their surrogacy journey, Adam explained: 'It was really important for us [to be there for] the whole journey, so we picked a surrogate that we could work with that we could be able to be there for the birth, enjoy every part of it, be there for every part of Leven's journey. 

'It was an experience, it was just amazing. We'd planned for Leven, we'd thought about her for six years, and we honestly didn't know if this would ever happen for us.

'We grew up thinking that two dads can't have a family, so for us to have little Leven and live in this moment, it's just amazing for us. That moment was so special.'

Jamie added: 'We just spent 24 hours crying. I think when she was born she must have thought "God these two are miserable", but they were happy tears, we were just crying all the time.'

Jamie continued: 'Because of the current laws around surrogacy in the UK, we chose to go to the States, we're legally recognised as her parents from the minute she is born.

'The laws in the States, they favour both the surrogate and the intended parents which means that when she is born, the surrogate then can’t change her mind and it means that we also can’t change our minds. 

'Whereas in the UK, the surrogate has a right until the baby is of a certain age where they can keep the baby until this parental order is in place, and they can change their mind at any point.

Jamie added: 'There are very few cases [in the UK] but there has been cases where the surrogate has decided to keep the child and then the intended parents don’t get the baby. The US just protects that.'

Adam then went on: ‘We used a separate egg donor, we created our embryos so she’s not biologically connected to the baby at all, but [the surrogate] is incredible and what she's done to help us start a family amazing.' 

Adam continued: 'The way the UK law stands at the moment is, when a child is born via surrogacy, the surrogate is automatically the legal parent even if they have no biological connection, and what’s crazy if that if they are married, their partner or husband is the other legal parent, even if there’s no genetic connection at all to the baby. 

'Ultimately, it leaves me and Jamie, you, Cat and Ben, almost have the same rights as me and Jamie do [over Leven] in our situation, which is crazy.'

Jamie added: ’She’s classed in the UK as "parentless" at the minute because under UK law, she wasn't classed as being born in what is classed as "the right means".'

Adam explained that the couple are legally recognised as Leven's parents in the US, but their status has not been carried over when they returned to the UK.  

He explained: 'We have to go through an 8-10 month process... You have to do an endless amount of paperwork, you have to be assessed by a social worker to make sure you’re fit enough to be parents, even though we already are, we have then to go to a High Court and get a parental order.

'It's just a big process that really as new parents we shouldn't have to go through, we should be recognised, especially in 2026, just like every other parent is for their child.'

Jamie continued: 'It is a small price to pay to get our names on Leven’s birth certificate, we’d do it a hundred times over, but it's an eight-month process and like Adam said, it's quite intrusive. 

'We have to have social workers come into our house, they look into our history, our family history, it’s eight months from start to finish and it can take longer. 

'It feels like at this stage a bit of a pointless process for us because we’re recognised as her parents in the US and one of us is biologically her father.'

Explaining the dangers of not being legally recognised as Leven's parents, Adam added: ‘We’d need legal consent [to take her to hospital] from our surrogate and luckily in our situation, we have a fantastic relationship, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. 

'It is a really tricky situation so medical, nursery decisions, passport - all things like that we have to get legal consent still.'

The couple explained that their daughter is currently on an American passport, and required a visa in order to get to the UK - and can only stay for 90 days at a time.  

It's prompted Adam and Jamie to start up a petition to change the law in the UK, which they revealed gained 90,000 in just 36 hours after it launched. 

Adam concluded: ’There’s lots of complications with surrogacy and there’s loads of things we’d like to change... but this is all about making intended parents like us legal parents from birth. 

'It protects the surrogate as well as the intended parents, we're a team at the end of the day, we just want to make it fair. That’s a change we’re campaigning for. 

'We’ve got over 90,000 signatures already. It just shows how much love and support there is for families like ours, and so 100,000, they will have to debate it in Parliament.'

It was revealed back in January that Adam and Jamie had welcomed their baby daughter via a surrogate in Connecticut, America, in January. 

A spokesperson for Adam said: 'Adam and Jamie are delighted to announce the arrival of their beautiful baby daughter. 

'They are overjoyed to have become fathers and are cherishing this special time together as a family. Baby, surrogate and dads are all doing great.'

Daily Mail revealed the couple were expecting their first children together during an exclusive interview last August. 

He told Daily Mail: 'I'm underway with a new career path, which is exciting and coming in the next few weeks. And over the last 10 years, Jamie has helped me out and works in the businesses, and I wouldn't be able to do it without him.

'It's been nice to have a little bit of time off prior to this, to be in the moment and recover from what has been a really busy time here.'

Speaking about juggling work and the baby, Jamie added: 'When we get back to the UK, because of the line of work that Adam does, he is and always has been his own boss. And I'm there as well. If there are days when we're both in the office, we can take baby with us. We've always worked like that.'

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.