There’s no denying that the struggle has been very real for this TV royal couple, who last year also had to contend with an onslaught of attention following the infamous Bondi brawl between Gyngell and his long-time friend James Packer.
McKinnon, who as a journalist could see that the two men getting into a punch-up outside Packer’s home was a good story, had this to say of the incident, “I do wish he’d worn shoes.”
McKinnon now jokes that she sometimes tells her husband that he must wear his ‘nice’ clothes if he’s going to pick ‘a fight with another billionaire’.
It’s been a tumultuous time for the family. Leila, 42, went through four years of IVF and suffered a miscarriage before having their first child Ted, in October 2012.
“I always knew I wanted another child after Ted,” says Leila, who only eight months after he was born, began another gruelling round of the treatment.
The conception of their second child Gwendolen, not even two years later, had too been shrouded in emotional and physical uncertainty.
“I couldn’t believe it,” recalls the happy mother, “they had told me there was next to no chance. To go through IVF and then to be surprised that you are pregnant, it’s crazy, but it was a lovely surprise.”
Their post pregnancy drama on the other hand, wasn’t – with a frightening aftermath following Gwen’s birth.
As Leila explains, Gwen was born last May with fluid in her lungs, lacking oxygen and panting for breath. She was immediately taken to the special care unit at Sydney’s Prince of Wale’s Hospital. When Leila went to check on her baby just hours later, she suffered a postpartum haemorrhage.
“David arrived back at the hospital with Ted just in time to see all the nurses rush into my room,” she recalls. “He couldn’t come in with Ted, so he had to wait outside not knowing what was going on. It was a really heart-stopping moment for him.”
“When he finally was allowed into the room, I said, ‘Are you okay?’, and he just started crying.”
After a nine-year battle and knowing the value of counting your blessings each and every day, her quest for a bigger family remains strong.
“I have still got this little ray of hope in me, even though it would be difficult and I’m not sure if David would even let me try. At this stage, I would have to say probably not. But you can never say never – even though I’m so incredibly grateful for the ones we have got.”
