Reality television personality Megan McKenna has disclosed a challenging period involving a severe ovarian health condition that led to a week-long hospital stay, occurring shortly after her UK residence was subjected to a burglary. McKenna, 33, shared that the immense stress stemming from her in-vitro fertilization (IVF) journey significantly impacted her physical well-being, compounded by the trauma of a terrifying home invasion by intruders armed with machetes.
IVF Journey and Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS)
McKenna recounted the arduous path to conceiving her son, Landon, now 21 months old, with her husband Oliver Burke. During this process, she was diagnosed with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), a condition triggered by an overreaction to fertility medications used in IVF treatment. This diagnosis resulted in debilitating pain.
Speaking on the “Great Company With Jamie Laing” podcast, McKenna explained her initial intention was to freeze her eggs. However, subsequent medical evaluations revealed her womb lining was “really thin.” To facilitate a successful pregnancy, she required a procedure to thicken her uterine lining, a process that could potentially extend for a year.
“I would never have got pregnant because my womb lining was too thin. It was too weak,” McKenna stated. She then embarked on the regimen of injections aimed at improving her womb lining. Concurrently, she inquired about freezing her eggs, but a medical professional advised freezing embryos instead, citing a higher chance of survival.
The IVF process proved to be intensely demanding. “We had 16 eggs that thawed amazing, but then it went through to putting them with the sperm, literally just two worked, out of all these, all these months,” she revealed. The rigorous treatment led to her hospitalization for a week due to OHSS. “It’s really dangerous when they rupture,” she explained, describing the severe pain and the alarming swelling of her ovaries, which had enlarged to the extent that medical professionals deemed her condition “dangerous” and requiring immediate admission.
Following the OHSS episode, McKenna needed time for her body to recover before proceeding with embryo implantation. “So, I had to wait a little bit of time to let my body calm down because I had this situation, and then we had Landon put in, worked straight away because there’s nothing actually wrong with my insides. It’s just the outsides that needed to be fixed,” she said.
Traumatic Home Invasion
McKenna’s hospitalization occurred just days after her UK home was burgled. “It was hard because I’d just been robbed. So the stress was really on top of me,” she admitted. She was undergoing therapy and pregnancy acupuncture to prepare her body for the IVF injections, determined to continue the process despite the recent trauma.
Reflecting on the timing, McKenna suggested the OHSS might have inadvertently delayed her pregnancy, allowing her to be in a more stable emotional state when conception eventually occurred. “Maybe me getting ill with the OHSS happened for a reason because it kind of delayed me falling pregnant. Things happen in a funny way. When it did happen, I felt like I was in a bit of a better place.”
The burglary prompted McKenna and Oliver Burke to relocate permanently to Germany. She had been hesitant to discuss the incident due to ongoing legal proceedings at the time. The break-in left her feeling profoundly unsafe in her UK home, particularly as her partner was based in Germany.
McKenna recounted the terrifying night: after her partner returned to Germany, she was alone in her UK home with her dog. Around 11 p.m., she fell asleep, only to be awakened by the house shaking. Disoriented, she realized intruders were present. “I get goose pimples now thinking about it,” she said. She discovered three masked men inside her home, wielding machetes and baseball bats, who were attempting to breach a wall leading to her dressing room.
In a state of panic, she contacted the police, who assured her they were en route. Despite police instructions to remain silent, McKenna, fearing for her dog’s safety, decided to confront the intruders. She approached them naked and bleeding from a cut on her foot, managing to negotiate the return of her jewelry.
“I was naked. I was talking to this man in a balaclava, and he grabbed my hand and he took jewellery off of me,” she described. The ordeal was deeply unsettling, leaving her feeling exposed and vulnerable. The intruders eventually left with minimal stolen items.
McKenna believes her home was deliberately targeted. The incident, coupled with the subsequent IVF treatments and the legal process involving the burglars, proved overwhelming. She stated she could not physically participate in the trial, and was dismayed to learn the perpetrators were later released.
Past Trauma and New Beginnings
This was not the first time McKenna had experienced a home invasion. In 2017, while a cast member on TOWIE, her first home was ransacked, with thieves stealing valuable items and sentimental possessions. At the time, there was speculation that the thieves may have discovered her address through her appearances on the show.
Having stepped away from reality television, McKenna is now focusing on her music career and working as a content creator from her home in Berlin.
