SUFFOLK'S star of the West End and Broadway, Ruthie Henshall is pregnant.Her family has been in the know for a little while but now, Ruthie has spread the word that she is seven weeks pregnant, and the 34-year-old singing and dancing star is expecting to give birth to her first baby next February.

SUFFOLK'S star of the West End and Broadway, Ruthie Henshall, is pregnant.

Her family has been in the know for a little while but now, Ruthie has spread the word that she is seven weeks

pregnant, and the 34-year-old singing and dancing star is expecting to give birth to her first baby next February.

The father of her child is her partner Tim Howar and this

little co-production is one they both planned and wanted.

Tim, a Canadian by birth, and Ruthie fell hook, line and sinker for each when they met in the cast of the musical When Peggy Sue Got Married which opened in the West End last August. Now marriage is on the cards.

Ruthie said: "I am not sure I particularly want to waddle up the aisle – I think that's a very female thing – so perhaps it will have to be very soon after the baby is born. We will get round to it though.

"It's all happened a little the wrong way round for me. I am very excited about it, but in a perfect world I would have got married first.

"But with this business you never know when jobs will crop up. We both felt as far as having a child was concerned it was now or never, let's just go for it.

"I certainly didn't really think that I would be doing Peggy Sue Got Married to find the father of my children! Both of us are totally delighted and very, very excited."

As for her career, the star of such hit shows as Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Chicago isn't putting it on the back burner yet.

She is negotiating a record deal and touring with a show called The Magnificent Musicals, which also has Tim in the cast. They played at the Ipswich Regent recently and her next Suffolk date is at Snape Maltings in August.