Actress Kristen Wiig opened up about her years-long in vitro fertilization (IVF) “struggle” and how she got her “amazing” family after realizing that surrogacy was going to be her only option.
The 50-year-old actress spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how she, husband comedian Avi Rothman and their 4-year-old twins became a family after she went through three painful years of IVF treatment.
“It was such a struggle,” Wiig said. “When you go through it, you meet other people who are going through it, and it’s almost like this secret little — the whispering conversation at a party. It feels like not a lot of people talk about it.”
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“It is such a private thing, but maybe it doesn’t have to be,” she added. “It’s part of my story and part of how I got my amazing family.”
Wiig previously spoke to InStyle magazine about what she called the “most difficult time in my life,” “emotionally, spiritually, and medically.”
“I wasn’t myself,’ the actress said. “There are so many emotions that go with it — you’re always waiting by the phone and getting test results, and it was just bad news after bad news. Occasionally there would be a good month, but then it was just more bad news. There was a lot of stress and heartache.”
In January 2020, with doctors’ advice and after years of IVF resulting in no success, she and Rothman welcomed twins, a son and daughter, via surrogate.
“I remember when our doctor mentioned going other routes and I was just like, ‘Nope. Don’t ever bring that up again. I’m getting pregnant. I’m doing this,'” Wiig said. “I finally realized that I just needed help. And, thank God, we found the most amazing surrogate.”
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“So many things were bittersweet. I was over the moon feeling them kick for the first time, but then I would get in my head and ask myself all these questions, like, ‘Why couldn’t I do this?'” she added. “At the same time I would tell myself it didn’t matter. She was giving us the greatest gift, and I just wanted them to get here!”
“Overall it was a very beautiful thing, and now that I’m on the other side, I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Wiig continued. “I’ve always believed that things happen the way they’re supposed to happen, and this is how [our babies] were supposed to get here.”
Wiig and Rothman started dating in 2016 and in 2019 the two became engaged, People magazine noted. During an interview with Howard Stern in February 2021, the “Saturday Night Live” star called Rothman her husband and confirmed they were married.