Celebrities with issues conceiving

[lovesdolphins]

http://www.nobabyonboard.com/moviestv.html

I thought that y'all might find this list amazing - realizing that even celebs go thru IF struggles.

Meet our unofficial Infertility Spokespersons. Those in the public spotlight who are brave
enough to talk about their struggles with infertility.

They literally went around the world to have a baby. Amazing Race winners Uchenna Agu and Joyce
Robinson have been trying to have a baby and IVF has been unsuccessful. They plan to use their
winnings to cover further in vitro attempts with an egg donor. They were recently named
spokespersons for National Infertility Awareness Week 2005.

Tom Arnold and wife, Shelby have been trying to conceive since 2002. To compensate for Tom's low
sperm count and poor motility, they have tried IVF with ICSI 5 times with no success. In the August
8 issue of People, they discuss how difficult infertility has been on their marriage and the cost of IVF
(Guess what? They're insurance doesn't cover it either.)

TV imitates real life. David and Courtney Cox-Arquette have had a well publicized battle with
infertility. After several miscarriages due to immunity problems and IVF, they finally had a healthy,
baby girl, Coco. In a Good Housekeeping article, she said, "In vitro is a wonderful thing that people
can do in this day and age, and I'm lucky enough to be able to afford it."

After 7 years of TTC, actress Angela Bassett and her husband, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" star
Courtney B. Vance welcomed twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah carried by surrogate.

Christie Brinkley sought in vitro fertilization treatment and had three miscarriages before giving birth at
44 to her third child, daughter Sailor Lee, with soon-to-be ex-husband Peter Cook.

LeVar Burton of Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow and his wife Stephanie
Cozart Burton, who starred in In Living Color had a daughter Michaela, born in July 1994. LeVar and
his wife were very outspoken advocates for infertility.

It is rumored that Desperate Housewife, Marcia Cross is expecting twins in April 2007, conceived
through IVF. She had often spoken of her desire to have children through adoption and the difficulty
of conceiving after the age of 40.

Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, Christopher Guest adopted their children after realizing that
infertility prevented them from conceiving. Jamie has written a book, Tell Me Again About The Night
I Was Born. The book was "written to let children who joined their families through adoption know
that their own birth stories were exciting, too".

Robert De Niro and his former companion model-turned-restaurateur Toukie Smith gave birth to twin
boys via surrogate on Oct. 20, 1995.

Due to a rare, painful auto-immune disorder, sarcoidosis, Karen Duffy, MTV VJ, actress, and Revlon
model was worried about exposing a child to her prescribed medications. She was able to have a child
through a surrogate.

Peri Gilpin, of Frasier, has two little girls, born May 7, by surrogate. She and her husband tried to
conceive for 7 years. After many years of pain and failed IVF attempts, they were able to have two
daughters, Stella and Ava.

Kelsey Grammer and his wife, Camille used a surrogate after her Irritable Bowel Syndrome prevented
her from carrying to full term. The couple welcomed Jude Gordon on August 28, joining sister Mason
Olivia.

Melanie Griffith and her husband, Antonio Banderas struggled with secondary infertility for years and
had some unsuccessful fertility treatment. Reportedly, the emotional pain caused by failed treatment is
part of the reason why she entered rehab.

Deidre Hall, star of Days of our Lives, and husband Steve Sohmer suffered for 20 years before
turning to a surrogate.

Model/actress/singer Milla Jovovich reported that she and her partner, Paul Anderson have wanted to
get pregnant, but she is too thin to conceive.

Leila Kenzle, best known for her role as Fran Devanow, Jamie Buchman's (Helen Hunt) best friend for
six years on the Emmy award winning "Mad About You," has co-founded FertilityLA in Sherman
Oaks, California, a psychotherapy program for people who are struggling to get pregnant.

Alex Kingston, of ER tried to have a child for 6 years before finally giving birth to a baby girl. She
states, "It didn't surprise me that women were trying IVF so many times; there's that need, and it
ultimately overrides everything else." She is now supporting HER trust, a new charity dedicated to
investigating unanswered questions about infertility. As well as funding research, the charity will
provide information for women on reproductive issues.

It is rumored that Jennifer Lopez was seen at a Los Angeles IVF clinic recently and expressed a desire
to have 2 children of her own.

Joan Lunden was able to have twins (twice!) with a surrogate mother.

Cindy Margolis- Supermodel/actress discusses her struggle with infertility and her desire to have a
baby. She had her first child, Nicholas through IVF/GIFT in 2002. Her two daughters, Sabrina and
Sierra were born prematurely by a surrogate on July 17, 2005. VH1 ran a special highlighting Cindy's
career and struggle with infertility. Cindy has recently been named the National Spokesperson for
Resolve.

According to People, Chris Meloni (Law and Order: SVU) and his wife Sherman Williams conceived
their two children, Sophia and Dante, through surrogate. His wife remarked, "That someone would
give up that much of themselves for somebody else. Its the greatest gift ever."

Laurie Metcalf, formerly of Roseanne and another Desperate Housewives,and her husband are new
parents to a baby girl, born by surrogate in July 2005.

 

[lovesdolphins]

'Will and Grace' star Megan Mullally, has been trying to have a baby and admits that conceiving
naturally will be very hard. Rather than turn to IVF, she is considering adoption.

Actress Valarie Pettiford and her husband, Tony Rader have been trying to conceive for over 5 years.
She told Ebony magazine, "I felt so isolated and alone. It's difficult to talk about, but I want other
women out there to know that they are not alone; there is support."

Not a movie or TV celebrity, but a political celebrity. New Supreme Court Justice, John Roberts and
his wife, Jane had difficulty conceiving. Her Catholic faith prohibited the use of infertility treatments.
After a lengthy and emotionally draining process, they adopted Josephine and John. Our political
sympathizer?!?

Julia Roberts gave birth to twins over a month early, a girl named Hazel Patricia Moder and a boy
named Phinnaeus Walter Moder. It is rumored that she conceived through IVF, but her publicist
denies it.

Jane Seymour had multiple miscarriages and painful infertility treatments. She has also written a book
"Two at a time" to describe her and her husband's ordeal.

Sherri Shepherd, who has starred in movies, such as Beauty Shop and the ABC TV show, Less than
Perfect and her husband/comedian, Jeff Tarpley had a son through IVF. Their son was born at 25
weeks on April 22, at 1 lb. 10 oz. At last report, the baby boy was doing well, but still in need of
medical support. Thanks Brigitte!

Brooke Shields gave birth to baby, Grier (conceived naturally) on April 18. She had her daughter,
Rowan after many IVF cycles. Brooke now speaks out on infertility (and yes, postpartum
depression). Her book Down Came the Rain chronicles her struggles with infertility and postpartum
depression.

Sharon Stone reportedly suffers from recurrent early miscarriages and recently adopted her second
child.

Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young- Desperate Housewives) wrestled with infertility and turned to the
practice of yoga to manage and alleviate the associated stress brought on by the diagnosis. She will
serve as the first national spokesperson for The American Fertility Association (AFA).

Oscar-winner, Emma Thompson suffered a miscarriage in 1997 and was subsequently diagnosed with
PCOS. She was able to have a daughter, Gaia in 1999 at the age of 40. Later IVF attempts failed.
She is happy with her daughter, but notes that "there are thousands and thousands of women like me
who can't have children." Recently, Emma and her husband adopted a teenager from Rwanda.

Nia Vardalos, the genius behind "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" has been ttc for eight years. She is
currently undergoing infertility treatment.

Actress Jo Beth Williams suffered from infertility and recurrent miscarriages. She stated, "You do
become desperate. You go through periods where you cry for no reason and you want someone to
help you." She and her husband finally adopted.

Trinny Woodall - one half of BBC's What Not To Wear team - is celebrating the birth of her first
child. Trinny, 39, and husband, Jonny Elichaoff have named their daughter Lila and they couldn't be
happier. Trinny said: "I'm so happy, I can't tell you how overjoyed I am." The couple previously
suffered years of baby heartbreak; Trinny suffered nine failed attempts at IVF and two miscarriages
before falling pregnant last year.

 

[lovesdolphins]

BTW - I had no idea there was a limit on the length of a single post.

PS - I'm also putting this list on my blog

 

[Amazon]

Wow - that's really interesting. Why is it we can feel so alone in our struggles when so many of us go through it? (Just wondering aloud...)

 

[felinity]

I think it's because people tend not to talk about it. When friends get pregnant, they don't necessarily mention that they've been trying for five years, and when friends don't have kids, we assume they don't want them.

I don't personally share the details with people because I don't want them to speculate or ask me about the process all the time. To me, it feels very personal and intimate, and it's not a struggle I share with most people I know - even my family.

 

[lovesdolphins]

I think it's because people tend not to talk about it. When friends get pregnant, they don't necessarily mention that they've been trying for five years, and when friends don't have kids, we assume they don't want them.

I don't personally share the details with people because I don't want them to speculate or ask me about the process all the time. To me, it feels very personal and intimate, and it's not a struggle I share with most people I know - even my family.

I agree - I don't share too much with people. A lot of people do know that we are trying, and that it's taking a while, but they don't pry.

I do think that when I finally get PG that I will tell people that it took us X number of months/years - just so they know. Who knows though - I may not say that.

 

[felinity]

Maybe I will mention it, too.

I struggle off and on with a sort of existential crisis related to my infertility. When I struggle with it, I feel like having kids and being a parent is one of the most basic of human functions, and not being able to get pregnant makes me less of a woman. Logically, I know better than this, but in my heart, I still sometimes believe it, you know?

So on one hand, there's this stigma; I don't really want to tell people, because they'll realize I'm deficient. But on the other hand, knowing that others struggle with this will reduce the stigma in the long run and make others feel that they aren't alone.

 

[lovesdolphins]

Maybe I will mention it, too.

I struggle off and on with a sort of existential crisis related to my infertility. When I struggle with it, I feel like having kids and being a parent is one of the most basic of human functions, and not being able to get pregnant makes me less of a woman. Logically, I know better than this, but in my heart, I still sometimes believe it, you know?

So on one hand, there's this stigma; I don't really want to tell people, because they'll realize I'm deficient. But on the other hand, knowing that others struggle with this will reduce the stigma in the long run and make others feel that they aren't alone.

I suffer from depression, and sometimes feel this way related to the depression; as well as IF.

I feel like I'm a terrible woman at times because of the depression, and not being able to conceive - like there is something seriously wrong with me as a woman.

I know it's not my 'fault' but knowing that, and accepting it are 2 totally different things.

Like when I lost a lot of weight I knew that I was healthy and skinny, etc - but looking in the mirror I still saw the fat woman that I had been for so many years - it's like you KNOW you are skinny, but seeing/accepting are two totally different things.


- please forgive my rambling!!

 

[felinity]

I understand.

What's sort of interesting about those celebrity stories is that relatively few of the celebrities went public with their infertility struggles. A lot of them are rumor or speculation. I think this reinforces the idea that people don't like to make infertility public, maybe for some of the reasons you and I both mentioned.

 

[tigercub]

One celebrity that comes to mind is Nicole Kidman. She and Tom never had a biological child together (and infertility was often alluded to) though their miscarriage just prior to their divorce was well publicised.

Our Nic is pregnant now to new hubby Keith Urban. Kind of cool...she went years without successfully carrying a child....to now being pregnant! Yay! It's the one piece of celebrity news that has actually made me happy!