Pregnancy joy for singer Paloma Faith

Singer Paloma Faith has announced that she is pregnant with her first child.

The star, 35, said that she was "nervous and excited about being a mum" and she would be taking time off from her music and TV career.

"I am so delighted to tell you I am going to take a short while off to have a baby.

"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 wrote on her Facebook page.

The Voice coach recently spoke about wanting to start a family with her long-term French artist boyfriend Leyman Lahcine.

"I've wanted a baby since I was 27," she previously said.

In a statement, Faith said her fourth album had been "aptly named" The Architect.

But she said she would not be "involved in The Voice this year or releasing my album this year either."

"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.

"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," the chart-topper wrote.

She added: "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."

The Picking Up The Pieces singer wrote: "When I return I will be full of energy and excited to come and sing for you again.

"The album is sounding super-exciting and I can't wait to share it with you all. I am very lucky and grateful in the knowledge I will get to do so very soon."

She promised "to return fully fledged when I have had this moment of solitude and new life. I am beyond happy about it".

The singer was previously married to chef Rian Haynes.

They wed in 2005 in a ceremony in east London but the marriage ended in 2009.

Faith has previously said she is no rush to get married again, stating: "Leyman is my husband. You don't need a marriage certificate. He's part of my harem!

'We don't argue. We are very similar characters. We respond to things in the same way and just talk about things."

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