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Original purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt replaces new dad Lachy Gillespie
Original purple Wiggle Jeff Fatt has stepped out of retirement to replace current band member and new dad Lachy Gillespie who welcomed twins with his fiancée, Dana Stephensen, over the weekend.
After an eight-year break, Jeff, 67, is set to slip on the iconic turtleneck for a four-part dance class series, Wiggly World of Dance, which will be streamed on the BIG W Facebook page.
Jeff’s return allows Lachy to ‘take a short break’ to spend time with Dana and his newborn daughters, Lottie and Lulu.
Aussie families can tune in to a new ‘dance-along’ each week for four weeks beginning 9.30 am Wednesday, September 16.
Jeff was one of the founding four members of The Wiggles, along with Murray Cook, Greg Page and Anthony Field in 1991. His catchphrase, ‘Wake Up Jeff!’ became known around the world until he left the group in 2012 after a heart scare.
He rejoined his bandmates in January for a bushfire relief concert when tragedy struck for yellow Wiggle Greg who collapsed on stage. He went into cardiac arrest and, after receiving CPR from two members of the crew, was rushed to hospital for an emergency procedure to insert a stent.
Greg has been open about his ongoing battle with orthostatic intolerance, a serious circulatory system disorder, that saw his quit the band back in 2006.
Surprise twins for Wiggle
Purple Wiggle Lachy and his fiancée Dana’s baby news took fans by surprise as the couple, who got engaged in April, kept the pregnancy a complete secret, right up until Lottie and Lulu arrived.
Lachy introduced his newborn bubs to the world in an emotional Instagram post on September 13.
“Oh Lulu and Lottie, your mummy and daddy love you with all we have - you are both so beautiful - and I would love to sing to you both forever,” the new dad wrote.
Dana echoed his sentiments, writing: “Lulu and Lottie - our two little sweethearts.”
Earlier that day, Lachy took to his Instagram to post a photo showing milk all over his white T-shirt, alongside the caption: “Lesson 1: When dad bottle feeding express milk for the first time, don’t get over excited and feed her too much.”
Back in April, he revealed that Dana had popped the question to him in an Instagram post.
“On Thursday night, Dana asked me to marry her at home under a fairy light sky and a very excited little boy in a beautiful bow tie,” Lachy wrote.
Dana also took to her Instagram account to gush over Lachy, saying he had actually proposed first but she wanted to ask him the ‘special question’ with her son by her side.
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Purple and yellow Wiggle split
Lachlan was previously married to Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins but the pair parted ways in August 2018 before he went public with Dana in October 2019.
The pair have remained amicable, with Emma telling Stellar magazine in December last year that she predicted her ex-husband and Dana would be the perfect match.
"Dana and Lachy have a similar energy, and I said to a friend that they would be perfect together," she said.
"But she was in a relationship, so I didn't say anything to him."
Dan previously opened up about motherhood, speaking about her young son Jasper, who was born in 2015, saying that becoming a mother truly changed her life.
“Motherhood teaches you so much and it opens up this treasure box of new things that you explore and performing is so much about life experiences,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Pregnancy is one of the most formative life experiences I've had and it informs so much of my work now.”
Like Lachy, she has been married before, to photographer Michael Kai.
Additional reporting by Sarah Carty.
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