Pop star Paloma Faith has announced that she’s going to become a first-time mother after revealing that she’s pregnant with her first child.

The 35 year old British singer, and former judge on ‘The Voice’, told her fans in a statement on Monday (August 22nd) that she and her long-term partner, French artist Leyman Lahcine, were expecting their first baby together.

"I am so delighted to tell you I am going to take a short while off to have a baby,” she said via her official website.

Paloma FaithPaloma Faith is expecting her first baby

However, she also said that it would mean that the release date of her upcoming fourth album, titled The Architect, which she has been recording over the last few months and is “nearly finished”, would be delayed.

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“I have spent my whole life wanting to be a mother and now the time has come for me to do so I feel so lucky,” she continued. “So while you are all patiently waiting, I would like you to know that I am grateful for your continued support and patience and I hope that you will respect my new family with our privacy in a time which should be calm and without anxiety.”

However, Paloma asked that her privacy and that of her family be respected after it the baby is born, and has no intention of being plastered all over the tabloids during the early stages of motherhood.

“I really do not want this child to be in the public eye as it won't have chosen to and I hope everyone can understand that,” she said.

“I am nervous and excited about being a mum and just need to be normal and low key for a while. Pregnancy and motherhood is a very personal thing: daunting, new and worrying at times and I don't want to add to it by having to 'look' a certain way when pregnant or be photographed pregnant or with my child. I wasn't raised like that and I don't want my child to be. I want the baby to have the freedom of a normal life.”

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