Adrienne Bailon is just the latest of many celebrities who have used surrogates.
Last week, daytime television personality, Adrienne Bailon welcomed her first child, a boy. Bailon previously opened up about the challenges she faced trying to conceive. However, following a long battle with fertility issues, the former 3LW singer announced that she and her husband, Israel Houghton, have added a new branch to their family tree via a surrogate.
What Is Surrogacy?
A surrogate is a woman who carries and delivers a baby on behalf of another party. There are two types of surrogates: traditional and gestational. A traditional surrogate uses her eggs and the sperm from the father via artificial insemination, making her the baby’s biological mother. Gestational surrogacy uses the eggs of another woman, typically the one who plans to mother the child. With gestational surrogacy, the surrogates has no genetic ties to the baby because her eggs are not used.
Why Would A Person Use A Surrogate?
There are many reasons why a person or family might consider using a surrogate. Gay couples often use surrogates to start their family. And older women or those experiencing infertility may seek the help of a surrogate instead.
Plus, labor and delivery can be downright terrifying. And the maternal mortality rate is already disproportionately high among Black women, putting Black mothers at increased risk.
Not to mention, many women just don’t want to be pregnant. And that’s totally fine. Surrogates help them, too. In fact, according to the California Surrogacy Center, lifestyle factors are one of the top reasons why a person chooses to use a surrogate.
Celebrities Who Have Used Surrogates
Surrogacy is pretty common. So common, in fact, that many of your favorite celebrities opted to use surrogates to have their children. Here are five Black celebrities who have used surrogates:
1.
Kandi Burruss
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Kandi Burruss is a singer and former member of the 90s girl group Xscape. And in 2004, she won a Grammy award for “Best R & B Song” for her help writing the popular TLC song “No Scrubs.”
Today, Burruss is known for her role in the hit Bravo TV show “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Fans followed the reality star as she navigated the highs and lows of her personal and professional life, including her decision to hire a surrogate. In an episode of “We Are Family,” she reveals she initially struggled with her decision.
“We were just trying to figure out like, ‘okay, should we do this?'” She says. “How can you trust somebody with your most precious possession, your most precious gift — somebody that you barely know?”
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But later, in 2019 Burruss and her husband Todd Tucker welcomed a daughter, Blaze Tucker. And looking back, the ‘Real Housewives’ star says the process was worth it.
“But now that it’s all said and done, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the best decision that we could have made.”
2.
Gabrielle Union
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Gabrielle Union is a talented actress known for her roles in films like “Two Can Play That Game” and “Bring It On.” But Union is also an author. And her book “You Got Something Stronger?” is a New York Times Bestseller.
In the book, the “Being Mary Jane” star talks about her life as a wife and mother, plus, her surrogacy journey. She talks about the pain she felt seeing another woman carry her child.
“This growing bump that everyone thought I wanted to see was now a visual manifestation of my failure. I smiled, wanting to show I—we—were so happy and grateful. But part of me felt more worthless.”
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And even though the truth hurts, Union is determined to share her story. “If I am telling the fullness of our stories, of our three lives together, I must tell the truths I live with,” She writes. “And I have learned that you can be honest and loving at the same time.”
3.
Tyra Banks
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Supermodel Tyra Banks is no stranger to turning heads. The “America’s Next Top Model” creator has a long history in the fashion industry as a certified stunner.
But when Banks opened up to ET about her surrogacy decision, she revealed she didn’t always feel that way.
“Yeah, I don’t remember if it was, ‘Am I less than a woman?’ but I remember just thinking, ‘Oh my god, I waited too long, like, why did I do this?'” Banks recalls. “Like, why did I do it? And I can remember, I was, you know, doing the rounds and stuff and then I create the embryo and I get the phone call, ‘The embryo is not healthy.’ You know, ‘We can’t move forward,’ and just, like, just crazy for me — just really, really difficult.”
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Fortunately, the difficult process proved to be worth it in the end when she and her husband Erik Asla welcomed a son in 2016.
4.
Angela Bassett
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After seven years of multiple failed rounds of IVF, actress Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance became frustrated with trying. But when a friend mentioned that she was using a surrogate to have her baby, the couple decided to also give it a try.
“She began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy.” Bassett says in an interview with Oprah. “The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us.”
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And their decision proved to be successful when the “Black Panther” star and her husband announced they would be having double the fun with twins — a boy and a girl.
“Just standing there together, holding each other with the realization that this is the moment that we’ve been working toward, praying for…[it’s a dream come true].”
5.
Mellody Hobson
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As the president and co-CEO of investment management company Ariel Investments PLUS the former chairwoman of Dreamworks Animation, businesswoman Mellody Hobson is a busy woman. Not to mention, she’s also the wife of the legendary “Star Wars” producer George Lucas.
But Hobson is never too busy for family. And in 2013, she and her husband welcomed a bouncy baby girl, Everest, via surrogate.
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The couple now share four children together. The youngest of the clan is Hobson and Lucas’ first biological child. Lucas adopted their first three children, Amanda, Katie, and Jett prior to his relationship with Hobson, but that hasn’t stopped her from loving them as her own.