Ray Quinn has revealed the devastating stillbirth of his baby son Rio.
The X Factor star took to Instagram on Sunday night as he shared the heartbreaking news after his wife Emily gave birth prematurely in August at just six months.
Tragically Rio was stillborn after his umbilical cord was tied in a tight knot as Emily said: ‘There wasn’t anything we could have ever done to change it.’
The couple uploaded a video to their YouTube channel as they explained everything was fine at the 20 weeks scan, however at six months pregnant Emily, who also experienced a miscarriage last year, noticed she wasn’t feeling as much movement and felt her bump looked smaller.
Emily had an anterior placenta so was told she would feel less movement, but realising something was wrong the couple booked a scan where it was revealed the baby had no heartbeat.
‘Our whole world just stopped in that moment,’ said Emily as she broke down in tears.
Sharing a black and white snap of the three of them to Instagram, Ray wrote: ‘Our beautiful boy, born Sleeping.. 20th August 2026.
X Factor star Ray Quinn reveals devastating stillbirth of his baby son Rio as shares statement on ‘most heartbreaking week of our lives’ and says ‘no words will ever be enough’
Sharing a black and white snap of the three of them to Instagram, Ray wrote: ‘Our beautiful boy, born Sleeping.. 20th August 2026’
‘No words will ever be enough, just a lot of indescribable feelings. Heaven gained the most beautiful little Angel and we were overjoyed when Rio was born and we found out we had a little boy!!
‘The last few weeks have been a lot but our saving grace has been each other.’
Over on their YouTube the couple, who also share daughter Summer, four, as well as Harry and Lucian from previous relationships, opened up about the tragedy.
Emily began: ‘We went for our scan at 20 weeks and everything was perfect. Everything was fine.
‘And for me, because we had a miscarriage last year, I felt like I was always a little bit on tender hooks to go for any scan.
‘And when we went for our 20 week scan, I felt a little bit more relieved to just sort of let go and say, “Well, we’ve got our little baby now. The heart’s beating fine, the lungs, the little brain, the fingers. They’ve got 10 fingers, 10 toes, and all that’s left to do now is just for our little baby to grow”.’
She continued: ‘Then while life was happening, I started to notice that I wasn’t feeling as much movement.’
Ray added: ‘You just said, “Do you think me bump’s gone smaller?” And I was thinking, well, because of where the placenta was was at, it was at the front of your tummy.’
Emily explained: ‘Yeah. So, when they scan me, I’d never had an anterior placenta before, which is a placenta that sits at the front of your pregnancy…
‘And when we went for our scan, they did say like, “Oh, you might not feel as much movement because the placenta sits at the front”.
‘So, I was sort of putting the move like not feeling the movement as much down to the placenta sitting at the front.
‘And then one day we were outside the house and we just been in to check on updates on the house. And I just said to you, I feel a bit worried that like something’s not right.
‘I think as a woman and obviously having pregnancies before, you do know and you’re connected like to your body and you feel if something’s not quite right and you said let’s just book a scan. So we went at this point I was just touching six months.’
Breaking down in tears, Emily recalled: ‘And when she put the the scan on me stomach, she just like closed her eyes and just said, “Em, I’m so sorry, but there’s no heartbeat there”.
‘And like our whole world just stopped in that moment all like our hopes and taking our little baby back to our house that had just been like renovated has just like crashed right before us.’
The couple explained everything was fine at the 20 weeks scan, however at six months pregnant Emily noticed she wasn’t feeling as much movement and felt her bump looked smaller
The couple are already parents to daughter Summer, four, and have a child each from previous relationships
Ray added: ‘It was life changing you know absolutely life-changing, devastating really. As soon as she said that, yeah, your world does come to a stop and you don’t worry about all the other things that you’ve been worried about.
‘It’s like life hits you right in the face and that changed everything.’
After finding out his umbilical cord was tied in a knot, Emily added: ‘There wasn’t anything wrong with him or me or any complications like that.’
‘And it’s very very very very rare,’ added Ray, ‘It’s not something that would have been flagged up at all on any scans. It’s not something that the professionals would look for.’
Emily added: ‘It’s now amazing that the support out there for women, couples going through this situation. Because 35 years ago, this type of support for women and men and families was not there.
‘People didn’t quite know how to approach it. Everything was sort of hush, like don’t speak about that. But now we’re encouraged to speak about it. And why wouldn’t we celebrate our baby’s life because he was here just as if any other child being born is here.
‘So speak about it and tell people and that’s the way that you’ll heal.’
The couple’s friends were quick to send their condolences in the comments.
Kym Marsh penned: ‘Oh Ray I’m so sorry I know this pain only too well. Sending so much love xx’ and Jess Wright wrote: ‘Sending so so much love.’
Others added: ‘Oh my goodness. So so sorry and sending so much love to you both’; ‘Thinking of you all through these hard times❤️sending all my love xx’;
‘Thinking of you all and sending so much love to you and little Rio’; ‘Oh mate. I’m so sorry for your loss. That is sooo tough. Sending love to you all’.
Thanking the hospital for their support, Ray wrote: ‘We just want to say a special thanks to Becky, Rebecca, Ali, Marie, Sarah & Lorraine @liverpoolwomens and to the HoneySuckle team you go above and beyond, and although it was the most heartbreaking week of our lives you created some of the most beautiful moments and we have such special memories with our boy to keep forever. Thank you!
‘When it’s you that goes through such heartbreaking times like this, You soon find out just how much help and support there is out there.
‘It’s a whole lot more than you’d ever expect. And it’s truly amazing!’
Ray shared that the couple decided to dedicate an episode on their YouTube channel to the tragedy to help raise awareness.
He added: ‘We talk more about this on our YouTube “THE QUINNS” This episode was hard to film and was not a decision we took lightly and honestly something we never thought we would be talking about, but it’s real life and by us opening up and talking about this, we hope it helps those out there who find themselves in a similar situation to us.
‘Forever our Angel “RIO QUINN”’.
If you have been affected by this story, you can call Child Bereavement UK on 0800 028 8840 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or email helpline@childbereavementuk.org
