15 Famous Moms That Had to Go Through a Lot to Become Parents

According to the World Health Organization, around 48 million couples and 186 million individuals worldwide suffer from infertility. In their attempts to conceive, many women face challenges they never knew existed. They go through physically and psychologically draining trials and require all the support they can get. Many celebrities who have also struggled with fertility openly share their experiences to provide comfort and hope to others.

1. Alexander and Lauren Ludwig

In May 2022, the couple shared with their followers on social media the sad news that Lauren had already experienced her 3rd miscarriage. The young wife of the Vikings star said that she had thought long and hard about whether to share this story publicly, but then realized that it was necessary, at least so that other women did not feel “lonely and guilty.”

In February 2023, the happy couple delighted all those interested with positive news: Lauren’s 4th pregnancy had reached a stage where they no longer felt the need to hide it.

2. Maria Menounos

The TV presenter spent 10 years on unsuccessful attempts at IVF. Finally, she decided to use the services of a surrogate mother. However, the woman who initially agreed to carry a child for Maria had to part ways with them as she no longer met the medical requirements. It was very difficult for the couple to obtain “truly good” embryos.

All these numerous obstacles on the way to their desired goal had tortured the star so much that she told the doctors who offered her another attempt to have a child with the help of a surrogate mother: “This is the last straw. If this doesn’t happen, then it’s definitely not meant to be. I can’t go through this again.” In February 2023, a happy Maria shared the news with her followers that she and her husband are finally expecting a child.

3. Dylan Dreyer

When the TV presenter was struggling to conceive her second child, she decided to openly share her experience in real-time, saying: “Well, here I am, putting myself out there, and maybe it will give just one other woman the motivation to keep plugging along.” She publicly discussed whether she should try to conceive naturally or immediately move to IVF, and explained in detail the reasons for her choice. They had been trying for almost 6 months, and when they had already decided to resort to IVF, the star found out she was pregnant.

4. Anne Hathaway

“All kidding aside, for everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies,” the actress wrote on her Instagram page, saying she’s expecting a second child.

In her interviews, she said she was very upset when she saw other women get pregnant easily. Hathaway encourages open discussions of this topic, so that the women who go through this don’t feel as if they are in hell.

5. Shay Mitchell

At the end of 2018, the star of Pretty Little Liars posted a story on Instagram where she revealed that she had previously suffered a miscarriage. Shay wanted to encourage people to be more “compassionate, sensitive, patient” toward each other. After the setback, the actress was able to achieve her desired goal twice — she gave birth to 2 daughters in 2019 and 2022.

6. Gabrielle Union

In 2018, Gabrielle Union and her ex-husband, NBA player Dwayne Wade, were finally able to embrace their newborn daughter from a surrogate mother, after the actress and model had experienced “eight or nine” miscarriages. Gabrielle had been unaware of her adenomyosis for many years and now openly shares her experience and advises women not to hide problems with contraception, but to seek treatment.

8. Jennifer Lawrence

The actress is not shy talking about her early pregnancy. At the age of 20, she found out she was pregnant and thought she wasn’t ready to become a mother. She didn’t have to make a final decision, as nature took its course. Later, after making a conscious decision to get pregnant, Jennifer suffered another miscarriage. So, it wasn’t easy for her to give birth to her baby Saya.

9. Giuliana Rancic

The TV presenter went through 3 IVF cycles. She shares that she was able to get pregnant after her first attempt, but then suffered a miscarriage. After the second cycle, pregnancy did not occur, and it was like a “punch in the gut” after everything she had been through. When Giuliana went for her 3rd IVF cycle and was ready for embryo transfer, she found out that she had breast cancer and would need a long treatment. A surrogate mother gave birth to Giuliana’s child.

10. Jordana Brewster

The sons of the Fast and Furious star, Julian and Rowan, were born through gestational surrogacy. She spoke about her experience, saying, “It’s the most intimate leap of faith and trust you can take.” Having gone through it twice, Jordana became a partner of Clearblue, a company that produces pregnancy tests, to participate in the #Conceivehood campaign, with the aim of influencing public opinion to “normalize conversations about infertility and trying to conceive.”

11. Pink

In 2019, the singer recorded the song “Happy,” in which she revealed that at the age of 17 she had hated her body. Later, in an interview, Pink explained that this hatred was linked to an early pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. After this incident, several more attempts by the singer to have a child ended in the loss of an unborn baby. Pink now has 2 lovely children, but she remembers the feeling of shame and pain, and believes it is important to talk about them.

12. Ali Stroker

The Tony award-winning singer and actress has been bound to a wheelchair since the age of 2 due to a spinal cord injury she sustained in a car accident. In order to become a mother, she had to plan her pregnancy and childbirth like the most complex project, consulting with a whole team of doctors. In November 2022, another child, a son named Jesse, was born into their family with David Perlow.

13. Christina Perri

The year 2020 proved to be particularly difficult for the singer — she suffered a miscarriage in January and lost her newborn daughter Rosie in November. A few months later, Christina learned that she had a treatable blood disorder that could have been the cause of these tragedies. The star set out to help other women avoid her painful experience by spreading information about blood tests for genetic disorders. 2 years later, Christina’s fourth pregnancy ended successfully with the birth of a healthy baby girl.

14. Lily Allen

In 2010, the singer suffered a miscarriage after contracting a viral infection during her sixth month of pregnancy. Later, Allen spoke about it, saying, “I held my child and it was really horrific and painful—one of the hardest things that can happen to a person.” In 2011, the star was able to give birth to her first child, but the girl was seriously ill for a long time.

15. Carrie Underwood

In January 2019, after many attempts to conceive a child and several miscarriages, the country singer became a mother for the second time. In an interview, Carrie shared that this bitter experience formed the basis of her song “Cry Pretty” because “these horrible things going on in my life and then have to go smile and, like, do some interviews or, like, do a photo shoot or something.”