Emma Thompson’s husband, actor Greg Wise, has opened up about the couple’s failed attempts to conceive through IVF and how “upsetting” the process was.
Speaking to The Daily Mail Weekend magazine, Wise said that following the birth of their daughter Gaia in 1999, who was conceived thanks to IVF, the couple tried for second child.
“We tried IVF a few times after having her and it didn’t work,” he said.
“IVF is very upsetting. It’s a brutal process and it’s very emotional. It’s really hard. But then you pick yourself up, look around and see this unbelievably beautiful little baby you’ve got anyway.”
Wise, who first met Thompson on the set of Sense and Sensibility, has previously spoken about his depression after the second round of IVF treatment had failed.
But in 2003, Greg and Emma met Tindyebwa Agaba, a 16-year-old former child solider from Rwanda.
Tindyebwa was homeless and began spending more and more time with the family before they eventually adopted him. Now, they appear as a family of four.
“He’s a remarkable boy,” Greg told the Mail of his son.
“He’s had more misery than hopefully any of us will have to put up with. That’s given him an incredible drive for trying to make people’s lives better.”