MAFS star Booka Nile got pregnant on a second date. She’s raising her son in a ‘platonic friendship’.

Booka Nile rose to fame as a member of Perth metalcore band Make Them Suffer before sliding inside the households of thousands of Australians each night as a popular bride on Married at First Sight.

But now Booka has a new role: as a mum.

She might have failed to find a spark with groom electrician Brett Helling on MAFS, but Booka has a new man in life. She's just welcomed her first son Halen (affectionately known as Wubbs) with close friend Luke Millar in April 2023. 

Booka's family structure is a little unconventional. 

Speaking with Mamamia, Booka admitted that she didn't plan on having a baby anytime soon. "The pregnancy was a surprise. It was a complete surprise," she said.

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In fact, she wasn't actually in a relationship with Luke when she found out she was pregnant. "Luke and I went on a couple of dates. We only hooked up once. It was definitely not a plan," she told us. 

"I was like, 'How is this even possible?' And I was on the mini pill as well. But because I'm on a mini pill, it has to be taken at the same time every day — I think that's where I went wrong." 

The idea of motherhood was on Booka's mind. While not necessarily right now but in the future with the reality star previously considering freezing her eggs.

At the time of her two dates with Luke, Booka was just looking to casually date and avoiding anything too serious. 

However, the universe had other ideas. After finding out she was pregnant, Booka and Luke met up for coffee to discuss how to proceed. "It wasn't an instant decision," Booka said. 

"I wanted to chat to Luke first before any decisions were 100 per cent made. But I did feel in my gut, I was like, 'I think getting rid of this baby, it will actually be really hard.' If I don't go through it with it." 

"There was a big part of me that was like, 'This could maybe be the only chance I have at having a baby because I am in my 30s.' There's all sorts of things going through my head.

"Luke and I kind of made the decision together, which was really strange considering we hardly knew each other.... by the end of the coffee date, he's like, 'So are we doing this?' And I was like, 'I think we're doing this.'" 

Despite deciding to have a baby together, the pair decided to remove romance from the equation early on. "I think it would be crazy to just jump headfirst into a relationship," she said. 

"I don't want us to just think of being together because I'm pregnant. I think that's not the foundations for a good relationship... Look, maybe one day in the future, we'll fall in love. But we definitely don't try to force that because that could precipitate a disaster between us.

"The most important thing is that we have a good relationship for the sake of this baby."

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Being pregnant with a friend, rather than a partner, has its positives. "I think some of the best parts, I was able to feel quite comfortable just being like an absolute wreck in front of him without worrying about turning him off. It was just like having a really good friend there to help me."

During her final stages of her pregnancy, Booka got Luke a key card so he could stay in her spare bedroom occasionally. But once Booka gave birth, Luke moved in part-time so they could co-parent together under one roof in their platonic relationship. 

"I sort of expected maybe staying once a week, or once a fortnight, but at the start, he was over every single day. He just didn't want to be away from his baby," she said. 

Some of Booka and Luke's friends and family have been unsure of what to make of their non-traditional family. "People are fascinated by it. Whenever Luke goes out with friends or whatever, he's hounded with questions. People didn't think it would work," she said. 

"I mean, as far as co-parenting relationships go, it can be really difficult to navigate. But I think because we didn't have a breakup or anything like that, we didn't have a romance to begin with — we just worked on a friendship. So we didn't have resentments or breakups working against us, which is a massive part of why it's been working so well." 

These days, Booka focuses on her music mental health business, a side-hustle as an influencer, along with doing her Masters in Counseling. But ultimately, she wants to focus on being a mum right now. 

"I'm still getting my head around it because it's full on. It's like a full-time job. And I've heard that a million times before but now I really understand what people mean by that."

As far as Booka and Luke's future as either a platonic or romantic partnership, the jury is still out. 

"We're very, very busy with our baby so there's no room for romance. I feel like most couples sort of lose a lot of the romance after having a baby anyway. So it's still kind of almost impossible to tell if anything in the future would ever develop. But we're very close now which is super beautiful. Like I feel like we've got all the elements of a married couple in a lot of ways, minus that romantic side of it," Booka said.

"I think the only way Luke and I would ever consider being a couple is if something develops really organically and naturally. Because I feel like if you're forcing yourself to be with someone, then your heart's not really in it." 

Feature image: Instagram/@bookanile.