Celebrities are rarely candid about their emotions, typically shying away from revealing their raw feelings in front of the camera.
But models Chrissy Teigen and Tyra Banks have both admitted to having fertility struggles during Banks’ FABLife TV talkshow.
The pair tearfully shared that falling pregnant isn’t always easy, and wished that people would be more sensitive when asking women why they haven’t had kids yet.
The TV segment began with Chrissy Teigen revealing that she and her singer husband, John Legend, who have been together since 2007, are regularly asked the personal question of when they’ll start a family.
“It’s kind of crazy because I can’t imagine being that nosy to be like, ‘so when are the kids coming?’ because who knows what somebody’s going through?” the 29-year-old said candidly.
She then shared that they have been seeking assistance from fertility specialists. “I will say honestly, John and I were having trouble. We would have had kids five, six years ago if it happened. But my gosh it’s been a process.”
Teigen also shared the impact that being constantly asked when she’ll have a baby has had on her. “Anytime somebody asks me if I’m going to have kids, I’m like, ‘One day, you’re going to ask that to the wrong girl who is really struggling, and it’s going to be really hurtful to them.’ And I hate that. So, I hate it. Stop asking me.”
As the talk show returned from an ad break Tyra Banks, 41, then tearfully discussed her own struggles with fertility, revealing that she’s desperately wanted children for many years.
“I just feel like we’re so hard on each other and judgemental of each other. And a woman that is divorced three times is more normal than a woman who has not been married,” the America’s Next Top Model host said.
“I am so tired of seeing on my social media, ‘Why don’t you have kids?’ You don’t know! You don’t know what I’m going through, you have no idea,” she said through tears.
“When I was 23 I would tell myself, ‘In three years, I’m gonna have kids!’ And then I turned 24 and I’d say, ‘In three years, I’m going to have kids!’ And then every single year I kept saying that and then after a while it’s like, okay now I want to and it’s not so easy.”
Banks recently told People magazine that she and her photographer partner Erik Asla had been attempting to use IVF to conceive a child but had been so-far unsuccessful. “I’ve had some not happy moments with that, very traumatic moments,” she said.
Banks and Teigen sharing their personal journeys in such a public forum is a refreshing change from the celebrities who avoid discussing fertility and conception.
With celebrities like Geena Davis, Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry all having children later in life and not disclosing whether they had any fertility issues surrounding their pregnancies, it’s a welcome change to have high-profile women admit that conception isn’t always something that comes naturally.
