Celebrities, Their Babies and The Surrogates
Today’s couples have many options when it comes to extending their family. Some people choose to use a surrogate or gestational carrier. This is a common option for couples who want to have a biological child, but the woman is not physically able to carry a pregnancy full-term.
Many celebrities who want to have children find that they cannot. Medical issues and failed IVF, leads many celebrities to seek the help of a surrogate. Each surrogate plays a different role in the life of the parents. Some surrogates are “rented wombs” and are only there to deliver the baby.
Other surrogates become an important part of the child’s life fulfilling the role of auntie or godmother.
Celebrities have been open about their use of surrogates since the 90s. Since then it has become more common and more celebrities are open to discussing how happy they are that this option is available to them.
Without the use of a surrogate, many of these celebrities would not have been able to have their biological children.
Here is a list of 18 celebrities who have used surrogacy to fulfill their dreams of being parents and building a family.
18. Robert De Niro
In 2011, Oscar winner Robert De Niro and his wife Grace Hightower welcomed their baby girl who was born via surrogate.
At 68, De Niro was not afraid of having another child, he already had five other children from other relationships. Also, De Niro had used a surrogate before. His 16-year-old twin sons with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith were born via surrogacy.
De Niro also has two older children by his first wife Diahnne Abbot, a daughter in her forties and a son in his late thirties.
17. Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban
When it came to fertility, actress Nicole Kidman says getting pregnant was like a roller coaster ride.
Two years after Kidman gave birth to Sunday Rose, her first child with country singer Keith Urban she decided to use a surrogate in order to have a second child. Kidman and Urban’s second child Faith Margaret was by a surrogate.
Kidman also has two adopted children Connor and Isabella, from her first marriage to Tom Cruise.
16. Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy Fallon often spoke of their five-year struggle to have a baby. They finally decided to use a surrogate which led to the birth of their daughter, Winnie Rose on July 23, 2013.
They were able to keep the surrogacy secret until the birth of the baby. Their daughter was named after the location where they got engaged, Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
15. Elizabeth Banks
Actress Elizabeth Banks has womb issues which mean the embryos would not plant, so she was not able to carry a pregnancy full term.
Banks and her husband Max Handelman used a surrogate for their two sons Magnus and Felix. Banks and Handelman have a unique relationship with their surrogate who has remained in their lives, as an auntie to their family.
14. Chris Daughtry
Deanna Daughtry, wife of musician Chris Daughtry has a partial hysterectomy in 2006, so she was not able to carry a child. When the couple decided they wanted children they turned to surrogacy.
They used in vitro fertilization and had the embryo transferred to a gestational carrier. On November 17, 2010, the Daughtry family, including the couple’s two older children Griffin and Hannah, welcomed twins Noah and Adalynn.
13. Elton John
Elton John and his husband, David Furnish turned to The Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino to build their family. This California-based clinic is a popular place for celebrities looking for a surrogate. The couple welcomed their sons Elijah and Zachary into their family. Both were born via surrogate. John and Furnish are said to have paid $27,660 to the surrogate for the birth of their first son and $31,600 for the second. That might seem like a lot of money, but remember John is said to have a net worth of $355 million.
12. Marissa Jaret Winokur
Actress Marissa Jaret Winokur was unable to carry children of her own after the loss of her uterus and part of her cervix to cervical cancer. Luckily, due to her preserved ovaries, she had her own eggs. In 2008, Winokur and her husband Judah Miller used a surrogate for the birth of their son Zev. Winokur has a close relationship with her surrogate and wants her to be her baby’s life forever. The surrogate is her son’s godmother.
11. Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin did not wait to find the perfect partner before starting his family. In 2008, Martin, a single man, welcomed his twin sons Valentino and Matteo, born via surrogate. In Vanity Fair’s Spanish edition, Martin states that he does not think of his surrogate as a “rented womb” which is a term some use for a gestational carrier. Martin says he has a deep bond with his surrogate and views her as an angelic being.
10. Giuliana & Bill Rancic
Giuliana and Bill Rancic publicly struggled to have a baby on their reality TV show Giuliana and Bill. After three cycles of in vitro fertilization treatments, the couple finally decided to use a surrogate. During this time, Giuliana also underwent a double mastectomy, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
On August 29, 2012, Edward Duke was born via surrogate. The couple plans on using the same surrogate for their second child.
9. Kelsey & Camille Grammer
Actor Kelsey Grammer and his then wife Camille Grammer, had two children, Mason in 2001 and Jude in 2004 via surrogate. Camille said that she needed to use a surrogate due to her diagnosis of severe IBF (irritable bowel syndrome). The couple went to The Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, California. On her show the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, when discussing surrogacy, Camille stated that it is a great option for people who are unable to physically birth a child.
8. Dennis Quaid
Actor Dennis Quaid and his then-wife Kimberly Buffington used a surrogate for the birth of their twins Zoe and Thomas. At the time, Quaid was 53 and Buffington was 35. The couple never made a statement saying why they chose to use a surrogate. The twins were born on November 8, 2007, and a few says after their birth the hospital accidently gave them an overdose of blood thinner. The twins recovered from this health scare and Quaid and Buffington sued the hospital as well as the maker of the blood thinner.
7. Katey Sagal & Kurt Sutter
Actress Katey Segal and her husband Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter turned to a surrogate for their first child together. Segal had two older children from a previous marriage. After the birth of her second child, she had medical issues that made it impossible for her to carry another child. Segal and Sutter looked into adoption but then turned to surrogacy. On January 10, 2007, the family was increased, with the birth of their daughter, Esme Louise.
6. George Lucas
Director and producer George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson used a surrogate for their first baby together. The child was Hobson’s first child and Lucas’ first biological child. Lucas has three older adopted children from his previous marriage to Marcia Griffin. The couple was married on June 22, 2013, at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California. Two months later on August 9, 2013, their baby daughter was born.
5. Angela Bassett & Courtney B. Vance
Actress Angela Basset and actor Courtney B. Vance used surrogacy to fulfill their dreams of having children. Bassett explained, during an interview on Oprah, that before choosing surrogacy she had undergone fertility treatments for several years. The couple was grateful for having surrogacy as an option. The couple’s twins, Slater, and Bronwyn were born, via surrogate, on January 28, 2006.
4. Neil Patrick Harris
Actor Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka had been together for several years before deciding to use a surrogate to have a child. In an interview with People Magazine, Harris said two eggs were used, from anonymous donors and each man donated sperm. Both eggs took and on October 12, 2010, fraternal twins Harper and Gideon were born.
3. Deidre Hall
Deidre Hall, the Days of Our Lives star and her then-husband Steve Sohmer used a surrogate for their two sons before the procedure was as common as it is now. Their surrogacy was different from the others on this list because they were unable to use Hall’s eggs. Sohmer’s sperm was used to fertilize the surrogate’s egg. The couple felt that is was important that their children be biologically related to at least one of them. Their sons were born, via surrogate, in 1992 and 1995.
2. Mathew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker
After the birth of their first child, James, Sex in the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband actor Mathew Broderick found that they were having difficulty conceiving.
Parker admitted in an Access Hollywood interview that she has a number of disappointments while trying to get pregnant for the second time. The couple finally decided on a surrogate. They were excited to learn their surrogate was expecting twins. Marion and Tabitha were born June 23, 2009.
1. Joan Lunden
Journalist, Joan Lunden, and her husband Jeff Konigsberg, turned to surrogacy after they were unable to conceive after five failed in-vitro fertilization treatments. The eggs used did not come from Lunden or the surrogate. The name of the egg donor has not been disclosed. The couple eventually had four children by surrogate. This must have been a wild ride since, at some point, they had four children at home, under the age of two.
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