Hollywood divas’ hidden struggle: Celebrities who've battled infertility

A recent study suggests roughly one in six women experience infertility worldwide, and the global rate of female infertility was over 110 million in 2021 and increasing; this chart includes Hollywood divas as well.

Some entertainment celebrities have faced unexpected challenges of struggling with infertility issues that have tested their resolve and emotional strength; however, these stars including actresses, singers, and models have bravely shared their stories.

Let’s look at the experiences of Hollywood's celebrities who have struggled with infertility issues:

Anne Hathaway

The The Idea of You actress is a mother of two sons, Jonathan and Jack, however, she had earlier struggled with infertility.

In an Instagram post, the 42-year-old actress while announcing her second pregnancy at that time, wrote. “It’s not for a movie…#2.”

Hathaway went on to say, “All kidding aside, for everyone going throughinfertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies. Sending you extra love.”

The The Devil Wears Prada actress admitted in an interview with the Daily Mail to feeling “torment” seeing other women seemingly get pregnant easily.

“We make women who are struggling with this feel isolated and lonely; we make them feel like it’s their fault. I wanted to be more sensitive than that,” the Eileen actress added.

Courtney Cox

The Friends actress is a mother of a teenage girl. The Scream star once told Today, “I had a lot of miscarriages, and I don't think that's something that people shouldn't talk about, because ... it was unfortunate but it happens.”

According to Cox, she didn't want to give up and just think it's important to get things out there so people can realise they're not alone.

Beyoncé

The 43-year-old singer has experienced multiple miscarriages before having her daughter, Blue Ivy, who is 13 now and later in 2017, she had twins.

“Having miscarriages taught me that I had to mother myself before I could be a mother to someone else,” the Single Ladies songstress said in an interview with Elle magazine, adding, “I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir.”

“I was swollen from toxemia [a.k.a. preeclampsia] and had been on bed rest for over a month,” Beyoncé revealed to Vogue magazine about having an emergency Caesarian section (C-section), adding, “During my recovery, I gave myself self-love and self-care, and I embraced being curvier.”

Nicole Kidman

The Aquaman actress, who had two children during her marriage with Tom Cruise, is now a mother of two biological children with current husband Keith Urban.

Interestingly her second daughter, Faith, was born via gestational carrier, aka surrogacy.

In an interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes, Kidman said, “Struggling with fertility is such a big thing and it’s not something that I would run away from talking about.”

“We were in a place of desperately wanting another child. I couldn’t get pregnant,” the actress said, adding, “I get emotional just talking about it, because I’m so grateful.”

Emma Thompson

The The Dead of Winter actress has two children with her husband Greg Wise.

The couple has been open about their daughter Gaia being conceived through IVF. While talking about the experience, Thompson’s husband told The Times, adding, “You’re filling your partner full of drugs all the time.”

“Your fertility cuts to the root of yourself as a being, especially as a woman,” her husband said, adding, “You have the potential of producing life and if there’s a glitch... I think even now there still are a lot [of people] who think that you’re not a whole woman.”

Kim Kardashian

The beauty mogul experienced placenta accreta after giving birth to her first two children, North and Saint, which she shares with ex-husband Kanye West.

At that time, the reality star revealed on her Instagram post that, after having five surgeries “to fix the damage” from her two deliveries, her doctors advised that carrying another pregnancy was not an option.

Amy Schumer

The I Feel Pretty actress struggled with IVF when she and her husband Chris Fischer were trying to conceive their son, Gene.

The comedian-actress wrote on her Instagram post, “They retrieved 35 eggs from me. Not bad for the old gal right? Then 26 fertilized! Whoa right?”

Schumer went on to say, “For all those we got 1 normal embryo from that and 2 low level mosaic (mosaic means there are some abnormal cells but can still lead to a healthy baby) So we feel lucky we got 1!”

Sarah Jessica Parker

The Sex and the City star and her husband-actor Matthew Broderick, experienced trouble conceiving years after having their first child, James Wilkie.

The 60-year-old actress revealed to Vogue that they subsequently “tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to get pregnant, but it was just not to be, the conventional way.”

After considering both adoption and surrogacy, the couple welcomed home twins Marion and Tabitha via surrogate in 2009.

While talking about the experience, the Hocus Pocus 2 actress shared in an interview, saying, “Meeting your children rather than giving birth to them, it’s as if…it’s suspended animation.”

According to Parker, it’s so different, and equally extraordinary.

Celine Dion

Did you know the My Heart Will Go On singer went through several rounds of IVF before she had son Rene Charles in 2001?

In a 2010 interview with People, Dion said that she would continue getting treatments and hormone injections until they worked, and she’d become pregnant again.

The 57-year-singer welcomed twin boys later that year.

Deborra-Lee Furness

Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness after going through IVF and suffering several miscarriages, decided to give up trying to conceive and instead turned to adoption.

The now ex-couple adopted their first child Oscar in 2000 and their daughter Ava in 2005.

In 2012, Jackman told E! News, “The moment Oscar was born, all the heartache just melted away…You can’t even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes.”

Chrissy Teigen

Teigen and her husband John Legend are the power couple of the moment, but before Luna and Miles were born, they faced a lot of bumps along the way.

“I think it’s especially difficult when you can’t conceive naturally,” Legend told Cosmopolitan Magazine, adding, “You want to feel like everything’s working properly and want everything to be perfect, but sometimes it’s not.”

“You realize that a lot of it is luck, and you can’t blame things on yourself,” Teigen told The Cut.