THE Real Full Monty’s Ashley Cain got another woman pregnant after he stood at his daughter’s grave and asked her grieving mum Safiyya Vorajee: “Can we have another baby?”
The couple discussed having a child together before they split, as they battled grief after losing Azaylia to cancer in April 2021.
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Safiyya Vorajee says Ashley Cain’s ex vowed to have a child with her before she got pregnantCredit: Dan Charity
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Azaylia died after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and tumors on her lungs, stomach and kidneys Credit: Social Media
However, now Ashley has said that she is expecting a baby boy next month with a friend she has known since she was 18.
This shattered Safiya’s dream of their joint family.
In a heartbreaking interview with The Sun on Sunday, Safiyya, 36, said: “I don’t know why he would ask to have another child with me knowing he’s sleeping with someone else.
“When he asked me, it was the moment I was waiting for.
“I sighed with relief that we could be reunited and have a family again. It was in Azaylia’s garden, in front of our daughter, such a precious, safe space for us.
“He said, ‘I don’t want another child with another woman,’ and asked if we could have one together.
“I couldn’t speak, tears were running down my face.
“During the coming weeks, I waited for him to say, ‘Are we going to be together again?’ I really thought he would, I thought he was just taking it one step at a time.
“But then, out of the blue, he told me he was going to have a child with someone else.
“It’s like a hurricane hit me. I’m shocked.”
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Safiyya says Ashley is devastated and shamed for having a child with another womanCredit: Dan Charity
‘I’m devastated’
Former footballer Ashley, 33, one of the stars of ITV’s The Real Full Monty: Jingle Balls this week, gave an interview saying Safiyya had congratulated him.
He also told The Sun on Sunday about his joy at being a father again.
Sobbing and wiping away tears, Safiyya admits, “How can I congratulate him when I’m in so much pain?
“Knowing that my child has a sibling who is not related to me shattered my dreams of a future with a full sibling, of that family.
“I feel embarrassed. I speak openly because I have to stop sugar, which is painful for me. I’m devastated.
“Because he didn’t name the woman, I got thousands and thousands of messages with people thinking it was me, congratulating me.”
Azaylia was only eight weeks old when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and tumors on her lungs, stomach and kidneys.
Former Coventry City winger Ashley and Safiyya, founders of the Azaylia Foundation, have raised more than £1.5 million to fund her specialist treatment.
She received several rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, but died eight months later.
Her parents had a hard time dealing with it. Ashley turned to alcohol and fundraising challenges to numb his pain, and Safiyya constantly put her own needs first as she craved affection and love from him.
Pulling up her top, tears rolling down her face again, she admits: “I’ve been through hell and I needed love, I didn’t get it from Ashley.
“I really wanted him, but he was busy dealing with his grief. I kept trying to save him and watch over him while I was drowning myself.”
She walked on eggshells around him so as not to “antagonize” him. Safiyya is clearly still trying to protect him, but admits, “I had to be delicate around him.
“He drank a lot. Not every day, but often. It was the whiskey that numbed everything. Sometimes he wouldn’t come home and didn’t come to bed, he slept on the sofa.
“We didn’t fight, but he seemed to interrupt me. I always tried to save him, suffocated him with kindness.
“I put him first when I was struggling sometimes. I didn’t ask him for support, help. I spared myself embarrassment and pain.
Before the trauma, he was full of love and care. But he devoted himself to his needs.
There were times when I actually thought, ‘I want to be with her.’ I was desperate, I saw no purpose on Earth.
“I would be in my car and just look at the sky. If there was a roundabout, I would have thought, ‘Let’s just keep driving, it doesn’t matter’.”
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Safiyya promises to be top of mind next year after booking therapyCredit: Roland Leon
In the end, Ashley, who appeared in the reality shows Ex On The Beach and The Challenge, initiated the split.
Safiyya, now a mental health advocate, says: “He had a drink, it was quick and brutal. He said he couldn’t do it anymore.”
He moved out of the family home in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
They continued to work together on a foundation dedicated to advancing early diagnosis and new treatment as well as supporting families whose children are battling cancer.
Safiyya says, “He moved in with his aunt, and later I moved in, because his family became my family and I was struggling on my own. We had separate rooms.
“We were friends before and we are again. I thought one day we would be a family again. I just thought he was going through, you know, turbulent times.”
They would often meet in their daughter’s “garden” at the cemetery and pray.
There, after he proposed a second child, Safiyya was waiting for him to discuss their future as a couple.
She says: “I didn’t want the child to think he was born because I wanted Azaylia. I wanted to fill the void. It had to be like a real family.
“I know Azaylia would tell me, ‘Mom, you deserve that family, that healthy unit.'”
In June, Safiyya moved out of Ashley’s aunt’s house and bought her own home, believing the space would help.
She says: “We talked about the Foundation almost every day. We would hug each other like friends. I was waiting for him to say, ‘Let’s get together again, let’s have that baby.’ I never asked him though. I didn’t want to push him away.”
Instead, he told her that the other woman was pregnant even though he was not in a relationship with her.
Safiyya says, “He didn’t tell me who she was and, again, I wouldn’t have asked him.”
Broken again, she adds, “That’s what breaks the heart. Even when he told me, I put him first so he wouldn’t feel guilty for telling me. I was screaming and crying inside.”
She also had to keep her dignity when the news broke online with a video of Ashley talking about her new child.
Safiyya says: “I was preparing for the award, sitting at a table with Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock and sprinter Linford Christie.
“Someone said there was a video of him on the Internet. I had no idea it would happen that day. I texted him: ‘I’m about to present an award. Like, seriously?’ He didn’t answer.”
The pair did not speak again until three days later, while performing together for a charity at a children’s hospital in Birmingham.
Now Safiyya is booked for therapy.
She says: “I went to Azayla’s garden to tell her, like a mother sitting her child down to say, ‘This is happening.’
“But I felt suffocated and I don’t want her to ever see mum cry. So I couldn’t do it. I tried but I can’t. It can’t come out of my mouth.”
Soft-spoken Safiyya admits she will struggle to ever see Ashley’s new baby.
She says, “As harsh as it sounds, it’s hard for me to watch my own nephews, my own godson, play like Azaylia should play with them.”
But Safiyya is finally looking forward to a brighter new year. She says: “My eyes were opened. I will stop being a shadow of myself and give myself the love and kindness I deserve.
“I hope that this recognition has brought me such embarrassment that it helps other women who are going through pain.
“I was an absolute mess. She’s crying for me, she’s crying for Azaylio.
“But next year I will be strong. I will put myself first – for me and my daughter.”
Ashley told The Sun last night: “Safiyya and I have been on an intense emotional journey together since losing Azaylia.
“When it comes to intense emotions, whether it’s a loss, a breakup, or my recent baby announcement, memory of events can fluctuate.
“What has never changed is our shared commitment to our daughter’s foundation, which has never been stronger.”
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Source: HIS Education