The Strictly Come Dancing star and her husband Marius Iepure – who she married a decade ago – announced on Christmas Day last year that they had welcomed their daughter into the world.
Oti admitted her partner – a Romanian dancer – was stunned by the exchange he had, and as a white man it made him reevaluate how he thinks about certain conversations when it comes to race.
Speaking to Hits Radio presenter Fleur East on her Black History Month: Raising The Next Generation special on Rayo, the 34-year-old star described the incident as ‘a learning curve’.
‘He got asked at border control ‘show me proof that this is your child.’ He’s never had to show proof… it was a learning curve for him,’ she said.
‘First questions, “Where’s the Mum, where is she from, your baby looks very, very different;” touching the hair, “Her hair is so different”… all of that.
Oti revealed her husband ‘felt protective’ over the issue for the first time, as he witnessed first had ‘what a mircoagression is’.
She continued: ‘For the first time he felt protective over the fact that now he has to explain himself, which he didn’t have to before. And he also has to see what a microagression is – because before he was like “It’s just a question” and I went,”But it’s not is it?” ‘
The dancer has some advice for parents who find themselves in a similar situation with their own families.
‘Just remind your baby that you’re not just black or white you’re both. That’s an important message,’ she said. ‘You don’t have to be either or – it’s twice as nice! Why does it have to be one or the other?’
After giving birth two months early, Oti and Marius announced the arrival of their daughter when she was nine weeks old.
Oti, who hasn’t revealed her baby’s name publicly, previously said they wanted to take ‘time for ourselves’ after the ‘big shock’ over her ‘unexpected’ premature birth.
She previously shared it was a difficult birth and she had suffered from sepsis, while her daughter was born ‘very’ premature, and it was tough seeing her firstborn being put in an incubator minutes after being born.
‘I don’t know the process. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know the steps of how things are going to turn out,’ she told Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe on their Parenting Hell podcast.
Her daughter spent a total of six weeks in hospital, with Oti then praising the medical staff and sharing how other parents going through similar situations provided an important support system.
‘I think one of my things is that I’m one of those delusional people who deny stress. So, I think the process afterwards, it took me a couple of months to be like, “Oh my god that was traumatic”,’ she told the presenters.
Raising the Next Generation with Fleur East’ is available on the free to download Rayo app now.
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