TV host Maria Menounos announced that she and her husband Keven Undergaro are finally going to be parents after a decade-long struggle with fertility.
A representative for the 44-year-old TV personality shared on Tuesday that Menounos is going to be a mom after a “decade of trying everything,” People magazine reported.
“Just after a decade of trying everything, we are so grateful to the beautiful family helping us conceive our baby,” the rep for Menounos shared with the outlet.
We are overjoyed to share that we are finally gonna be parents! Thank you to our incredibly generous surrogate and her family for the blessing! And lastly, I know my mom had a cup of greek coffee with god and said it’s time. So grateful for the blessing in our lives. pic.twitter.com/eIYFJGysSk
— MARIA MENOUNOS (@mariamenounos) February 7, 2023
“Keven, my dad, and I are all beyond excited for this soul to come into our lives,” the rep added. “What a blessing.”
The TV star later confirmed the news when she posted a clip on Twitter from her appearance on “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
Menounos, who worked with a surrogacy agency, shared a video with the outlet as she and her father watched footage from a recent ultrasound showing her baby growing inside the surrogate’s womb.
A year ago, the TV host shared the struggle she and her husband had been going through after starting IVF treatments 10 years ago, calling the process “frustrating.”
“I definitely didn’t think it was going to take this long,” Menounos admitted. “It’s been years. We’ve used different services, different people. It’s just been a very frustrating process.”
She also explained that she got the idea of surrogacy in 2018 after talking to reality star Kim Kardashian, who had her last two children delivered via a surrogate. She admitted that surrogacy was also a longer battle than the couple ever anticipated, learning that their first surrogate was no longer a match medically in 2021.
“That was a really hard breakup because we had been together on the journey for almost two years,” Menounos explained. “She was just so lovely and so amazing and very patient with us.”
“There’s something called a mock cycle that my fertility doctor suggested because we only have two really good embryos and we want two kids,” she added. “What would happen is the uterine lining wouldn’t grow to that last stage where you could safely implant and know that the embryo would stick. Had we not done [a mock cycle], we would’ve probably lost our only chances.”
And with that advice, she said they began looking for another surrogate, which she called the “last straw.”
“But I told [my doctors], ‘If it doesn’t work, I’m done. This is the last straw. If this doesn’t happen, it’s definitely not meant to be,’” the TV host shared. “I can’t go through this process again.”
The TV host and her husband are only the latest celebrities who welcomed their baby via surrogate. Others include reality star Khloe Kardashian, Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, Gabrielle Union, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, among others.