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15 Celebrities Who Used Surrogate Moms

Amanda Young

January 15, 2016

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As a celebrity, a big part of the job is around appearance. A changing appearance can conflict with contracted jobs, like roles on a television series or as a character in a film. That being said, celebrities have a lot more resources to spend on other non-traditional avenues for having a child, such as using a surrogate. Many celeb moms have been open about their unique journey of becoming moms, whether it is IVF, adoption, surrogacy or the traditional route. Here are eleven different celebrities who used surrogate moms to bring their bundles of joy into the world. We didn’t think there would be so many!

15. Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka

Neil Patrick Harris and his husband David Burtka have shared the lives of their twins Gideon and Harper right from the beginning, and have never been shy in discussing their experience with welcoming their twins through surrogacy. “We found an egg donor anonymously through a hilarious process of looking at people’s profiles and then found an amazing surrogate who had helped a same-sex couple before. And then we inserted two eggs, one with my sperm, one with David’s sperm and they both took,” Harris explained. He added that they never knew which twin was whose biologically because it really didn’t matter, they just couldn’t be any happier to be parents.

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14. Jordana Brewster

The Fast and the Furious franchise star Jordana Brewster is another celebrity who has welcomed a child via surrogacy. Brewster and her husband Andrew Form welcomed their first son Julian via surrogate on September 10, 2013 and later welcomed a second son, Rowan, in June 2016 also via a surrogate. “Sometimes I feel a little left out when other moms talk about what their birth experience was like, and I feel the loss of not having carried or having been able to carry,” she said in a 2015 interview.

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13. Katey Sagal and Kurt Sutter

After welcoming daughter Sarah Grace and son Jackson James in her marriage to Jack White, Katey Sagal and her husband, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, welcomed their own daughter Esme Louise via a surrogate in 2007. The couple called their daughter a “beautiful miracle,” with Sagal explaining, “We went through the whole in vitro fertilization process and our embryos were not really strong, but we thought, ‘Let’s give it a shot and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”

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12. Tyra Banks

Iconic supermodel, businesswoman and actress Tyra Banks surprised everyone in early 2016 when she revealed she and her longtime boyfriend Erik Asla had welcomed a son, York Banks Asla, via gestational surrogate. “As I gaze into the beautiful eyes of my son, I think about all the people who struggle with fertility or carrying a child and continue to pray for them every day. My hopes and dreams are filled with well wishes that they get to feel what my little treasure, York Banks Asla, feels like in my arms,” Banks said after welcoming her son. Prior to using a surrogate, Banks opened up about undergoing unsuccessful IVF procedures, “When I turned 40, the one thing I was not happy about is that I did not have kids. When you’re like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to do it,’ then it’s not as easy as you get older.”

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11. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick

In 2009, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker welcomed twins with her husband Matthew Broderick via a surrogate. “Well, you know, we’ve been trying to expand our family for a number of years and we actually have explored a variety of ways of doing so,” she said in an interview with The Today Show. “This was one of the things we discussed with seriousness that had real possibilities for us.” For Sarah, the choice to use a surrogate came about because she had fertility struggles after giving birth to her son, James. “It would be odd to have made this choice if I was able to, you know, have successful pregnancies since my son’s birth,” she said. People were so curious about Michelle Ross, the woman Sarah Jessica chose to carry her twins, that one tabloid reporter even broke into Michelle’s home. Yikes!

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10. Ellen Pompeo

Another celebrity who had a baby through a surrogate is Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo. In 2014, Ellen and her husband Chris Ivery welcomed Sienna May Ivery after having their first daughter, Stella naturally. “This is an incredible thing to do with your life, to give the gift of carrying someone’s child, so I am forever grateful and feel very blessed and grateful to her—she who will remain anonymous,” Ellen revealed. “I was there with her when they inseminated her and we held hands. I looked into the microscope and I saw the embryo, I saw the baby, and they put it in a thingy and they inseminated her. And then we held hands and we prayed, we talked to God, and if she was meant to be. He said he was going to try to help us out and now we have a gorgeous baby girl.” In late 2016, Pompeo surprised fans again when she revealed she and Chris had welcomed a third child, son Eli Christopher, through surrogacy.

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9. Lucy Liu

Elementary actress Lucy Liu welcomed a son, Rockwell, via a surrogate in November 2015, when Lucy was 46. She shared a photo of the newborn on her Instagram page, writing as a caption, “Introducing the new little man in my life, my son Rockwell Lloyd Liu. In ❤️!” A rep for the actress also told The Insider With Yahoo, “I can confirm that Lucy Liu is the proud mother of Rockwell Lloyd Liu, brought into the world via gestational carrier. Mom and baby are healthy and happy.”

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8. Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro has a wide variety of children: He has two older kids in their 30s-40s with his first wife, Diahnne Abbott: a daughter in her forties (Drena) and a son in his late thirties (Raphael). He also has twin sons Aaron and Julian (20) with ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith, who were born via a surrogate. He also has a 17 year-old son, Elliot, with Grace Hightower. Then in 2011, the Meet the Parents star had another surrogate child with Grace, a daughter named Helen. Family dinners sound complicated!

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7. Nate Berkus

In 2015, celebrity interior designer Nate Berkus and his husband Jeremiah Brent had a daughter, Poppy, using surrogacy. “It’s made me realize that everything I work for and everything that I do is really for her,” Nate said of his daughter in an interview with Us Weekly. When they first announced the pregnancy on Facebook, Nate and Jeremiah said, “We have had the most special year and it’s JUST become even more beautiful. We are happy to announce that we are expecting our first child! While we can’t share much, we can say that thanks to a surrogate and the support of those we love we will officially be a family in the spring of 2015!”

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6. Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman has had four children in three different ways: she has two adopted children, Isabella and Connor, from her marriage to Tom Cruise. She also gave birth to Sunday Rose, her daughter with husband Keith Urban. Then to have their second child, daughter Faith Margaret, together, Nicole and Keith used a gestational surrogate. “It was so deeply emotional and moving, and having given birth and then being on the place of seeing my child being born this way. The love I felt for our gestational carrier…She was the most wonderful woman to do this for us,” Nicole said in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes. “We were in a place of desperately wanting another child and this opportunity arose for us, and I couldn’t get pregnant and we wanted another baby. I get emotional talking about it, because I’m so grateful to her.” Nicole then added, “I cannot believe I’m crying on 60 Minutes” — but we get it, girl!

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5. Jimmy Fallon

Late night host Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy Juvonen used a surrogate to have their daughter Winnie Rose in 2013. “My wife and I had been trying a while to have a baby,” he told The Today Show. “We tried a bunch of things — so we had a surrogate.” In 2014, they had a second daughter, Frances Cole, also through a surrogate. In a June 2014 interview with People, Jimmy raved about how much he loves being a father. “I didn’t think it was going to be this fun,” he said. “But everything just gets heightened when you have a baby. The volume gets turned up on life. I never knew I could be this happy, and that’s the truth.”

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4. Ricky Martin

In 2008, singer Ricky Martin welcomed twin sons Matteo and Valentino by using a surrogate mother. In an interview with the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, Ricky said that he didn’t see the surrogate as a “rented womb” and instead had a deep bond with the woman, whom he sees as an angel in his life. Ricky is now a busy single dad, but says that he thinks he provides plenty of stability for his kids. “If I’m in L.A. and have to travel to Hong Kong for 24 hours, I’ll leave them with my mom. But fortunately, I have sons who are warriors and who were born on tour and don’t know anything else,” he said. “They’re road babies.”

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3. Elizabeth Banks

Pitch Perfect star Elizabeth Banks and her husband Max Handleman have had two sons, Felix and Magnus, by using a surrogate. “It was a womb issue for me,” she told Lucky magazine about her decision to use a surrogate. “Embryos wouldn’t implant.” She continued, “It’s a big leap, inviting this person into your life to do this amazing, important thing for you. But our surrogate is so extraordinary, and she’s still in our lives. She’s like an auntie.”

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2. Chris Daughtry

In 2010, musical artist Chris Daughtry and his wife Deanna used IVF and a surrogate to have their twins Adalynn and Noah. They were open about the fact that Deanna couldn’t carry a child because she had a partial hysterectomy back in 2006. “Our family is overwhelmed with joy by these two precious gifts from God,” the rocker wrote on his website after his twins’ birth. “The babies are both healthy and resting. Thanks to everyone for their love and prayers.” The couple also has two older children, Hannah and Griffin.

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1. Elton John

Another musician to go down the surrogacy path is Elton John. He and David Furnish welcomed sons Zachary and Elijah by using the same surrogate carrier. “She is a wonderful, kind and loving woman,” Elton dished about her, adding that she is “part of our family.” When Zachary was born, the couple said in a statement, “We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment,” but did not want to divulge details about the surrogate because they wanted to protect her privacy.