Celebrities Growing Their Family Through Surrogacy

Celebrities live what seems to be the fantasy life we all want to lead. However, they too face challenges when it comes to growing their families.

Because of the demands put on celebrity actresses like Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker, and a host of others named later, having a child presented difficult choices. For an actress (and many other professional women), delaying having children can result in health challenges and the need to use a gestational surrogate. We also see that surrogacy is one way that members of the LGBTQ+ community form their families.

The list of celebrities who choose surrogate is surprisingly large, almost as surprising as some of the names you will find on the list. Some have been very open about their struggles and have helped bring surrogacy into the national dialogue about topics like maternal health, infertility and creating diverse families. We thank them for using their voice and advocating for others with similar stories.

SARAH JESSICA PARKER

We start with the Sarah Jessica Parker’s surrogate story and the family’s struggle with secondary infertility.

In 2002, Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick had their son James. The ensuing years were difficult for Parker and Broderick to expand their family.

Despite the difficulties, the Hollywood pair really wanted to raise more children. They eventually chose surrogacy with egg donation, which resulted in beautiful twin girls (Tabitha and Marion) in 2009. While Parker was never one to hide her disappointment over not being able to carry another child through pregnancy, she and Broderick have always felt very blessed to have their surrogacy babies.

The two girls look enough like their mom to raise questions like is Sarah Jessica Parker the biological mother of her twins, which she assures is not the case.

NICOLE KIDMAN

The academy award-winning actress first adopted two children with ex-husband Tom Cruise after suffering miscarriages and ectopic pregnancy.

After marrying singer/songwriter husband Keith Urban, she used IVF to conceive her ‘miracle baby’ daughter Sunday Rose. Kidman and her husband decided another child was in the cards, but chose to use their embryos in a surrogate. In December of 2010, they proudly announced the arrival of Nicole Kidman’s daughter by surrogate Faith Margaret.

The announcement came as a surprise to Hollywood, the press, and fans since the couple kept it a secret until Faith arrived safely into the family.

ELLEN POMPEO

Actress Ellen Pompeo and her husband Chris Ivery were blessed with the natural birth of their child Stella Luna in October 2009. Unfortunately, the pregnancy was very difficult, making further pregnancies a high-risk endeavor.

Not to be deterred, the couple decided to go the surrogacy child route not once but twice. In 2014, daughter Sienna May Ivery was welcomed by the couple into the family to be followed by Eli Christopher in late 2016.

ELTON JOHN

CAMILLE GRAMMAR

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Grammer is the ex-wife of actor Kelsey Grammer. After several failed attempts to conceive a child during marriage, the couple eventually decided to turn to a surrogate mother for help. They were blessed with two babies by surrogacy, daughter Mason in 2001 and son Jude in 2004.

In the press, the Camille Grammer surrogacy story focused on her vanity as the reason she went with surrogacy. Despite the rumors, there is evidence to suggest legitimate health issues were the reason for using a gestational carrier.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS

As one of the world’s top Broadway performers, Neil Patrick Harris has never one to go with convention. With partner David Burtka, the two had surrogate twins in Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, born in October of 2010. What made their story interesting was that their surrogate carried embryos made with sperm from each of the partners.

KIM KARDASHIAN

Due to living a high-profile lifestyle, the Kardashians, and particularly Kim Kardashian with soon to be ex-husband Kanye West, don’t have secrets from the press or fans. For years, everyone has been aware of the pregnancy difficulties Kim had gone through related to the birth of the couple’s first two daughters North and Saint. Fearing more of the same, Kim and Kanye decided surrogacy was the path to keeping the family growing. Through surrogacy, the couple is now parents to Chicago and Psalm, who arrived in 2019. While the children and family should have been the focus of the story, the press has always been obsessed with finding out how much the surrogate mother or mothers were paid. Rumors suggest the amount was in the millions.

GABRIELLE UNION

The Gabrielle Union story with husband and former NBA star Dwayne Wade is one of sorrow and eventual joy. After over eight miscarriages, Gabrielle finally received a diagnosis of adenomyosis, which she probably had for decades. She publicly shared in her memoirs that she felt depression and received blame for her infertility, thinking it was a result of delaying conception to a later age. Her story has a happy ending as the couple found the right surrogate mother, who delivered a beautiful baby girl in 2018. Welcome into the world Kaavia!

JOEY GONZALEZ

Celebrity status is not confined to actors and athletes. In the world of surrogacy, wealthy CEOs like Joey Gonzalez of Barry’s Bootcamp will also pops up with the mention of celebrity surrogate stories. With partner and Chef Rollo, the two Dads are proudly raising two children. The first to come along through surrogacy was daughter Dayna, followed by son Jake Stone, born in April of 2017.

TYRA BANKS

It would be hard to find a celebrity that has been working harder than Tyra Banks. The former supermodel and current actress/TV host has had a full career spanning decades. Banks and partner Erik Asla underwent IVF and had 7 failed cycles.

When IVF treatments didn’t work for her, they decided surrogacy was the next best option. In January of 2016, Banks and her partner finally realized their dream of raising a family when York Banks Asla was introduced into the family.