Because we were in Los Angeles recently, the apparent home of this nation’s entertainment industry, I thought I would share a little about celebrity infertility. I am personally grateful to celebrities such as Celine Dion who have come out publicly with their very personal struggles on trying to conceive. As I mentioned in a previous blog, because of their voice, the rest of us can better understand how incredibly grueling and sensitive it is to go through such an ordeal.
Here are a few other celebrities who have been open about their difficulties trying to conceive and their use of high-tech treatment options. We celebrate them for speaking up!!
- Brooke Shields opened up about the difficulties trying to conceive her first daughter, Rowan, after many IVF treatments.
- Marcia Cross of Desperate Housewives has spoken out about the medical help she got to conceive her twins and she has also spoken out about the realities and challenges of getting pregnant when you’re older (40’s).
- Angela Bassett and husband Courtney B. Vance struggled for many, many years (seven!!) trying to conceive and finally delivered biological twins via surrogacy in 2006. (so never give up!)
- Dixie Chick sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison both used IVF to conceive their two sets of fraternal twins, as well as Emily’s son. They have also been open about their use of IVF.
We celebrate them and all other celebrities who open up about their fertility issues, helping others to understand how very difficult this journey is and also how relatively common it is too! One in eight suffer in the U.S. alone!
Now, if only more celebrities who use donor eggs would open up about that, a veil of secrecy (as it used to exist for adoption) would be lifted and we can go on to more fully accept that families are made in all kinds of ways – and that it’s OK. Also, they wouldn’t be misleading younger generations into believing they can wait to have their own, biological children at a much older age.
Thank you to all the celebrities who have chosen to speak up about the difficulties of conceiving. Here are more full lists of them. (links are no longer valid)
photo: Me (in white) and friends at the L.A. launch party for The Fertile Kitchen™ book.
