Game of Thrones’ ‘Mountain’ Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and wife Kelsey Henson announce the birth of their first child
GAME Of Thrones’ Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and his wife Kelsey Henson have announced the birth of their first child.
Fitness guru Kelsey called their son’s arrival life-changing, while Hafþór was left in awe of his wife.
Game Of Thrones’ Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and wife Kelsey have had a baby boy[/caption]Their son weighed in at 7lbs 8oz following a six hour labour, and Hafþór revealed they would share his name soon.
Kelsey shared pictures of her and Hafþór, 31, cuddling their son on Instagram as well as pictures from the birthing pool and labour.
She wrote: “Our beautiful baby boy made his grand entrance into the world at 11:19 AM on September 26th 2020 after a short and intense six hours. 3530 grams and 52 cm.
“The birth was the most powerful, life changing, empowering thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. We are all doing well and settling in at home as three! .”
They shared their birthing journey on Instagram[/caption]Blogger Kelsey documented her pregnancy journey on the social media site and both she and Hafþór gave a detailed account of the hours leading up to the birth.
The couple had intended to have a home birth but they decided to move to a birthing centre following a visit from their midwife.
Proud Hafþór praised his wife’s strength throughout the labour which saw her pushing for two hours.
He wrote: “Throughout it all she did amazing. She was in complete control of her mind and body. She had strong opinions on exactly what she wanted and where she wanted to be.
The couple are over the moon[/caption]“I am completely in awe of how strong she is, and so proud of her for everything she did to prepare herself throughout her pregnancy. It cannot be put into words how proud I am and how I feel about this experience.”
Kelsey said she would not change a thing about the experience and was delighted to be a mum.
“I’ve never felt more empowered or strong,” she wrote. “Upon reflection, educating myself and making the decision to birth at the birthing center, unmedicated and woman led was absolutely wonderful.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson played ‘The Mountain’ in Game of Thrones and was the World’s Strongest Man[/caption] Hafþór’s brute strength won him the GoT role[/caption]“Our midwives and doula were amazing, they gave us the perfect amount of space to do our thing and respected us and our birthing choices.
“I do not have one thing that I would change about this experience and cannot believe that I am now a MOTHER!
“Thank you to everyone in advance for the congratulations and well wishes, we won’t be able to get back to you all but are so thankful for all of the support and all of you following our journeys.”
Hafþór told fans he couldn’t wait to introduce his son to daughter Theresa.
The 6ft 9in TV star holds the world record for deadlifting with an astonishing weight of 501kg.
Before he transformed into a 30-stone brute, Björnsson was a gangly teen growing up in his native Iceland.
A talented sportsman, he represented his country at basketball at U17 and U18 level.
A spell as a professional in the Iceland first division followed but his dream of a career in basketball was ended by surgery on his ankle aged 20.
“I was very sad”, he recalled. “I wasn’t sure what the next step was.”
It was then the strongman started to train in the gym – hard.
He said: “I’ve always enjoyed lifting heavy. I saw extremely good results. I just got hooked, seeing how strong I got and how much my body changed.”
Two years after his basketball injury, he won the strongest man event in Iceland.
Björnsson, nicknamed “Thor”, competed in his first World’s Strongest Man in 2011, finishing sixth.
Two years later, when the Game of Thrones crew were filming in Iceland, he received an email asking if he’d like to audition for the TV drama.
He said: “I didn’t have any acting experience and getting an email like that out of nowhere from Game of Thrones was like ‘nah that’s not true…it’s got to be bulls***’.
“So I didn’t answer the email. A few days later I got a phone call and it was a man who asked if I wanted to audition for Game of Thrones. I obviously said, ‘Yes. I don’t know what I’m doing but yeah, let’s try it.'”
He then had a somewhat bizarre audition for the role.
“They asked me to pick one guy up to see if I was strong enough”, he said.
“I picked the man up over my head easily. They were very surprised: ‘Woah, OK you’re strong.”’
Björnsson then had a fight with one of the main sword teachers in the show.
He recalled: “After about 10 minutes he said ‘you’re the guy… you’re the man we’re looking for.”’
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Björnsson was the third actor to portray Cersei’s personal protector on the show, following in the hefty footsteps of Conan Stevens and Ian Whyte.
He told Men’s Health: “I was definitely more nervous with acting. But I did my homework. If you’re dedicated, it’s going to pay off.”
Since landing the role as “The Mountain” Björnsson, has twice been crowned the World’s Strongest Man.
He had further cause for celebration last year when he married 5ft 2in Canadian blogger Kelsey, 30.