Celebrities Who Have Struggled With Infertility
With 1 in 8 struggling with infertility issues, it’s no surprise that celebrities struggle with fertility issues too. Over the years, many celebrities have openly used their platform to shine light on topics such as pregnancy loss, surrogacy, adoption, child-free not by choice, and IVF treatments.
When celebrities share their infertility stories, it can help to spread awareness and normalize the conversation surrounding fertility health. Here is a list of some of the celebrities who have shared their fertility journey.
Celebrities Who Have Struggled With Infertility
Jennifer Aniston
During an interview with Allure, in 2022, Jennifer Aniston openly shared about her struggles with infertility over the years. "It was a challenging road for me, the baby-making road," the actor tells Allure. "I was going through IVF, drinking Chinese teas, you name it. I was throwing everything at it," she says. "I would've given anything if someone had said to me, 'Freeze your eggs. Do yourself a favor.' You just don't think it. So here I am today. The ship has sailed."
Image Credit: Allure
Jamie King
Former supermodel and Hart of Dixie actress, Jamie King has been open about her fertility struggles. She’s shared that it took eight years of trying to conceive for her to get pregnant. Jamie revealed she has had five miscarriages, a severe ectopic, suffers from endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome.
“For all the struggling women & moms out there that think they are alone – This is the truth about conceiving my son and struggles after 8 yrs of pain and undiagnosed PCOS & Endometriosis,” Jamie King posted on Instagram (the post has since been taken down).
“9 doctors until Dr. Randy Harris diagnosed me & saved my life from a severe ectopic, 5 miscarriages, 5 rounds of IVF, 26 IUI’s, most with no outcome, 4½ years of trying to conceive, 26 hours of brutal labor, early delivery b/c of sudden preeclampsia, tearing and tearing after the stitches were in once I was home, milk supply issues, painful mastitis, uncontrollable crying while breast feeding, worked until the day before I [gave] birth and went back after 6 weeks after because I was afraid of letting others down.”
Image Credit: People
Jimmy Fallon
Before having daughter, Winnie via surrogate, Jimmy Fallon and wife, Juvonen struggled to start their family for five years. He chatted with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie and discussed the heartbreak. "We've tried a bunch of things," Fallon explained. "Anyone who's tried will know, it's just awful." "We tried before, we told people and then it didn't happen," he recalled. "And it's just really depressing. It's really hard on everybody." "We tried before, we told people and then it didn't happen," he recalled. "And it's just really depressing. It's really hard on everybody."
Image Credit: TODAY
Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen and husband, John Legend were hesitant to broadcast their infertility struggles to billions of strangers at first. “It didn’t feel right to ever tweet, ‘Ugh, doing my IVF shots again,’” Teigen says.
They eventually shared what was going on behind closed doors. "The big question was why this wasn’t working for us when I was young and he was healthy," Teigen told SELF Magazine about her inability to become pregnant. "I thought, people get pregnant by accident all the time! How does this happen?" "Once we talked about IVF, it was like I heard everything," she said. "Some people who are close to us had done it, like, seven to ten times." "Emotionally, it could be really hard," she said. "When you have these high-highs and low-lows, and you’re, like, cuckoo pants." "You don't want to get your hopes up, but of course, you do," Teigen explained.
Image Credit: SELF Magazine
Amy Schumer
In 2022, Amy Schumer shared an Instagram post stating, “I’m a week into IVF and feeling really run down and emotional. If anyone went through it and if you have any advice or wouldn’t mind sharing your experience with me please do. My number is in my bio. We are freezing my eggs and figuring out what to do to give Gene a sibling.” Over the years, Schumer has been very open about her fertility struggles and IVF journey.
Image Credit: Amy Schumer
The Kardashian’s (Kim, Khloé, and Kourtney)
The Kardashian sisters have helped normalize the conversation about infertility, and have been open about their struggles to conceive on Keeping Up With The Kardashians (KUWTK).
On Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim Kardashian spoke often about the difficult time she and Kanye West had. Kim also shared in an interview with Glamour, “I didn’t know that I was going to be so open with [my fertility challenges], but meeting people at my fertility doctor’s office who are going through the same things I’m going through, I thought, ‘Why not share my story? It’s been really emotional.” Kim’s fertility struggles included IVF and surrogacy to grow her family.
Khloe has been subject to media attention regarding her fertility and surrogacy journey. On KUWTK cameras have followed her, where she shared intimate details about her struggles to conceive and rocky relationship. On KUWTK, Khloe shared that she's done IVF about three different times and froze her eggs once already. In 2022, a rep for Khloé, told People in a statement that Khloé’s second child was conceived via surrogate. "Khloe is incredibly grateful to the extraordinary surrogate for such a beautiful blessing,” the rep said. "We'd like to ask for kindness and privacy so that Khloé can focus on her family."
The latest Kardashian sister to discuss fertility struggles, has been Kourtney. Her journey to have a child with husband Travis hasn’t been easy. "Travis and I want to have a baby and so my doctor took us down this road of doing IVF and it hasn't been the most amazing experience." On KUWTK the cameras have followed them on their IVF journey. Kourtney has shared various aspects of the IVF process including her egg retrieval, “So after they retrieve the egg today, hopefully then they make an embryo, which takes six days, and then they test the embryo and then they implant the embryo, and then it hopefully becomes a pregnancy.” She added that she was cautiously optimistic, due to the number of steps in the IVF process that have to go right. “Yes, we are super excited and grateful to be here, but I think we also don’t want to feel too attached or too happy before we know because there are so many steps.”
Image Credit: E News!
Gabrielle Union
During an interview with TIME, Union shared that, “In 2016, my doctor, Kelly Baek, a no-nonsense reproductive endocrinologist in L.A., gave it to me straight: “Your best chance for a healthy baby would be surrogacy.”
In her book We’re Going to Need More Wine, Gabrielle opens about her struggles and that, “For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle,” Union writes. She also revealed that she has had multiple miscarriages in her journey to conceive. Unions fertility journey included using a surrogate.
Image Credit: Peggy Sirota, Women’s Health
Tia Mowry
Actress, Tia Mowry, has shared that endometriosis made her dreams of growing her family tougher than she’d imagined.
“I often felt like something was wrong with me,” she told Women’s Health. “I thought I was alone because no one I knew personally had dealt with this. And then I realized: I’d never really seen someone African American in the public eye talking about endometriosis or their struggles with infertility. And when you don’t know or see anyone who looks like you talking about what you’re going through, you feel alone and suffer in silence.”
Image Credit: Popsugar
Medical Disclaimer:
The information provided in this blog is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be considered as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider or qualified medical professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this blog.
