John Mulaney and Olivia Munn have two children together: a son who Munn gave birth to, and a daughter who was carried by a surrogate.
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There are many ways to have a family in 2024, including adoption, IVF, and surrogacy.
A surrogate has a fertilized embryo implanted in their uterus and then carries the baby.
Chrissy Teigen, Olivia Munn, and Paris Hilton are moms who have opened up about using surrogates.
Today, there are many different versions of what a “family” is and how to start one.
An increasingly popular option is surrogacy, in which a couple’s fertilized embryo is implanted into the uterus of a third person — the surrogate — who then carries the baby.
Surrogacy is used for many reasons, such as a person being unable to become pregnant due to their age or the pregnancy posing a danger to the mother’s health.
The surrogacy industry was worth an estimated $14 billion globally in 2022, CNBC reported in 2023, citing data from Global Market Insights. That figure could reach $129 billion in 2032. However, these numbers likely don’t give the full picture, as some surrogacies are private agreements.
The cost of the surrogacy process can reach upwards of $150,000, Business Insider reported in 2021. However, some celebrities can afford to go forward with surrogacy, like these A-list parents.
Here are some of the most famous people to use surrogates to grow their families.
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Munn and Mulaney, who got married earlier this summer, announced on Instagram that their second child was born on September 14, 2024.
In May 2024, Munn shared with Vogue that she had undergone a hysterectomy and an oophorectomy, meaning she had her uterus and both ovaries removed after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
In her post announcing Méi’s birth, Munn shared she had “profound emotions” about not being able to carry her daughter and instead used a surrogate.
“When I first met our gestational surrogate we spoke mother to mother. She showed me so much grace and understanding, I knew I had found a real-life angel,” Munn wrote.
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Keough shared her decision-making process with Vanity Fair in September 2023, almost a year after Tupelo was born in August 2022.
“I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff,” she said — Keough announced she had Lyme disease in that same interview.
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Teigen posted the story of her and Legend’s fourth child on Instagram in June 2024, explaining that, after the death of their son Jack in September 2020, she wasn’t sure if she was going to get pregnant again, and the couple looked into surrogacy.
Teigen underwent IVF again and gave birth to their daughter Esti in January 2023 — but at the same time, Teigen and Legend had bonded with a potential surrogate, Alexandra. She gave birth to their son Wren in June 2023, just five months after Esti was born.
“Just minutes before midnight on June 19th, I got to witness the most beautiful woman, my friend, our surrogate, give birth amidst a bit of chaos, but with strength and pure joy and love,” Teigen wrote on Instagram.
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Chung was honest with “Today” about why she wanted to use a surrogate for her twin boys: She was scared of what getting pregnant would do to her career.
“I was terrified of becoming pregnant. I was terrified of putting my life on hold for two-plus years,” she said. “In my industry, it feels like you’re easily forgotten if you don’t work within the next month of your last job.”
She added that surrogacy was a “compromise” between her and Greenberg.
“People probably think, ‘Oh, she’s so vain. She didn’t want to get pregnant,’ and it’s much more complicated than that,” Chung said.
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Hilton posted the news of their son’s birth on X in January 2023, writing, “You are already loved beyond words,” accompanied by a picture of her and her son holding hands.
People confirmed he was born via surrogate. “We are so excited to start our family together and our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy,” the reality star said.
The couple have been open about their plans to have children ever since their over-the-top November 2021 nuptials.
“We knew we wanted to start a family, and I was like, ‘This is perfect timing,'” she told People in December 2022. “Usually, I’m on a plane 250 days out of the year, and let’s just get all of the eggs stocked and ready, and we have tons of them just waiting.”
Ten months later, Hilton confirmed she and Reum had welcomed a daughter, London, also via surrogate.
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Just a few days after denying she and her girlfriend Ramona Agruma were engaged, Wilson announced her real news: She has a daughter.
“Beyond proud to announce the birth of my first child, Royce Lillian, born this past week via surrogate,” the “Senior Year” star wrote on Instagram.
“I can’t even describe the love I have for her, she’s a beautiful miracle! I am forever grateful to everyone who has been involved, (you know who you are), this has been years in the making…but particularly wanted to thank my gorgeous surrogate who carried her and birthed her with such grace and care. Thank you for helping me start my own family, it’s an amazing gift,” she continued.
Wilson and Agruma got engaged a few months later, in February 2023.
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Grimes and Musk, who broke up in September 2021, had a second child together, Exa (though they called her “Y”), via surrogate, which was revealed in a 2022 Vanity Fair profile.
According to the profile, Grimes had attempted to keep her daughter secretly in the house, but the writer soon heard her cries, and the singer was forced to reveal the news: She and Musk had welcomed a baby via surrogate in December 2021.
“I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. We live in separate houses. We’re best friends. We see each other all the time…. We just have our own thing going on, and I don’t expect other people to understand it,” Grimes said of her relationship with Musk at the time.
Grimes and Musk had a third child together at some point before September 2023, when he confirmed on X that their youngest baby is named Tau Techno Mechanicus.
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On January 21, 2022, the couple shared matching Instagram posts saying, “We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate. We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on your family. Thank you so much.”
The baby news was a surprise to fans, but both have spoken about their intention to start a family throughout their relationship.
“[Kids] are a big part of our desire for the future,” Chopra told Vanity Fair in a profile published just eight days before their baby news. “By God’s grace, when it happens, it happens.”
They have been married since December 2018.
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The style expert posted a funny Instagram post of himself with a sonogram edited on his stomach back in April 2021.
“So happy to finally share that WE’RE HAVING A BABY!! No, I’m not pregnant, despite this VERY realistic pic. With the greatest gift/help of the most wonderful surrogate, Rob and I are lucky enough to be on our way to being parents, this Summer. Something we’ve wanted for SOooo many years. Our hearts are so full right now. I cannot wait to hold this baby, and to show him so much love,” France wrote, tagging his husband.
In August 2021, the “Queer Eye” star shared on Instagram that their son, Ismail France, was born on July 10, seven weeks early. He spent the first three weeks of his life in the NICU before getting to go home with his dads.
“Our Surrogate is doing so great, post-labor, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the greatest gift in our lives,” France added.
In May 2023, France wrote that their second son, Isaac, was born and completed “their little family perfectly,” adding a “huge thank you to our incredible warrior of a surrogate.”
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In July 2021, she shared a photo on Instagram showing her holding her sleeping daughter.
“I’m so excited to share this news with you,” she wrote. “Four years ago, I decided I wanted to have a child. I wanted to do it on my own terms. I now appreciate how radical it is for us as women to think about one of the most fundamental parts of our destinies in this way. I hope we arrive at a point in which it’s normalized to not want a ring in order to have a crib.”
Oonagh Paige Heard was born in April 2021, she wrote. Friends told Page Six the child was born via a surrogate.
“She’s the beginning of the rest of my life,” Heard added.
The announcement followed a years-long bitter legal battle with her ex, Johnny Depp, whom she divorced in 2017.
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Cooper’s son was born on April 27, 2020, and he announced it to the world three days later, on April 30. “As a gay kid, I never thought it would be possible to have a child. I’m grateful for all those who have paved the way, and for the doctors and nurses and everyone involved in my son’s birth,” he said.
“Most of all, I am eternally grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, watched over him lovingly, tenderly, and gave birth to him,” he continued. “It’s an extraordinary blessing, which she and all surrogates give to families who can’t have children.”
In February 2022, Cooper announced the birth of his second son, Sebastian. He once again thanked his surrogate and her family for the “sacrifices” they made for him and his family.
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The Baldwins haven’t publicly commented on how their sixth child came into the world, but as Hilaria only gave birth to their son Eduardo six months prior, it’s likely that Lucia was either carried by a surrogate or adopted. A source confirmed to People that, in fact, they had used a surrogate.
“We are so in love with our daughter, Lucia,” Hilaria Baldwin captioned a photo of the baby on Instagram. “Just like your brothers and sisters, you are a dream come true.”
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After developing placenta accreta, a potentially life-threatening condition, after her first two pregnancies, Kardashian turned to surrogacy for her two youngest kids, Chicago and Psalm.
She didn’t find surrogacy easy, though.
“You know, it is really different,” Kardashian told ET in 2017. “Anyone that says or thinks it is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control. And, you know, obviously you pick someone that you completely trust and that you have a good bond and relationship with.”
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News broke in July 2022 that Kardashian and her then-partner Thompson had conceived a baby and used a surrogate in November 2021, just days after Thompson was embroiled in a paternity scandal with another woman. Their son, Tatum, was born in November 2022, and the process was documented in the premiere of “The Kardashians” season two.
“I was definitely very angry, and I think feeling bamboozled,” Kardashian said during the episode. “All I know is I was being encouraged to do it by a certain date. In hindsight, he always knew when the other baby was being born, especially getting the paperwork that we saw, he found out July 2, so he did know.”
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“Well, you know, we’ve been trying to expand our family for a number of years and we actually have explored a variety of ways of doing so. This was one of the things we discussed with seriousness that had real possibilities for us,” Parker told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush in 2009.
The couple also have a son, James Wilkie, whom Parker carried herself.
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“It’s a lot harder for gay guys [to have kids], although we tried,” Burtka joked during a 2020 appearance on “Wendy.”
He shared that two different women were involved. “There was an egg donor, a wonderful woman who was anonymous,” he said. “We took two of our best guys and implanted them into her eggs, two different eggs.” That way, they don’t know which twin is biologically theirs. Then, they used a different woman to be a surrogate.
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“The best present we worked and prayed so hard for is finally here. He’s got my fingers and big eyes and his daddy Erik’s mouth and chin. As we thank the angel of a woman that carried our miracle baby boy for us, we pray for everyone who struggles to reach this joyous milestone. York Banks Asla, welcome to the world,” the supermodel wrote on Instagram.
Banks and Asla have since split, Essence reported.
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“[Surrogacy] just seemed like the right option for me because I was working and I didn’t know when I was going to be able to stop,” Liu told People in 2020. “I decided that was probably the best solution for me, and it turned out to be great.”
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Their first son, Felix, was born in 2011. Banks called him her “miracle baby,” and she openly shared what made her and her husband turn to surrogacy on her website.
“The one true hurdle I’ve faced in life is that I have a broken belly. After years of trying to get pregnant, exploring the range of fertility treatments, all unsuccessful, our journey led us to gestational surrogacy. From that came two miracles. The first was meeting our carrier and her husband who were truly humbling in their decency and generosity. And the second miracle was the birth of our baby boy,” she wrote.
Their second son, Magnus, was born in 2012, also with the help of a surrogate.
“Like Felix, Magnus was born via gestational surrogate. This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime,” Banks wrote.
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“I’m in love. And speechless. And eternally grateful to an incredible surrogate. And I’m a dad. Wow,” he wrote on Instagram.
He had previously thanked his surrogate when he revealed he was expecting a son in December 2018. “Thanks to a wonderful surrogate who is carrying my future. Family means everything to me and having one of my own is something that I have wanted in my heart for my entire life,” he said on an episode of “Watch What Happens Live.”
In April 2022, Cohen’s daughter was born. “Meet my daughter, Lucy Eve Cohen,” he wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to my rock star surrogate (ALL surrogates are rockstars, by the way) and everyone who helped make this miracle happen.”
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The “Grey’s Anatomy” star and her producer husband have three kids: Stella, whom Pompeo carried herself, Sienna, and Eli. They were born in 2009, 2014, and 2016, respectively.
“This is an incredible thing to do with your life, to give the gift of carrying someone’s child. I am forever grateful and feel very blessed and grateful to her — she who will remain anonymous. I was there with her when they inseminated her, and we held hands. I looked into the microscope and I saw the embryo,” she told Jimmy Kimmel in 2014.
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Their second daughter, Faith, was born via gestational surrogate in 2011.
“Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret,” they said, according to a statement. “No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier.”
The couple also shares a daughter, Sunday Rose, who Kidman gave birth to in 2008.
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The couple shared that they had been through seven years of multiple failed rounds of IVF before learning about surrogacy from a friend. “She began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy. The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us,” Bassett told Oprah Winfrey in 2007.
Their twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah, were born in January 2006.
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The “Sons of Anarchy” couple welcomed Esmé in 2007.
The two weren’t originally planning on having kids together, Sagal told People in 2017.
“When Kurt and I first got together, he wasn’t interested in having any more children,” she said. “But he’d never had his own biological children, so about five years into the relationship we started toying with the idea of maybe we should raise a child together.”
“We headed down the adoption road at the same time we were investigating the surrogacy road and left it up to whatever happened first, because we weren’t attached to either way,” Sagal told OK! magazine in 2007. “Our surrogacy situation just fell into place really easily.”
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Martin first welcomed twins Valentino and Matteo in 2008 as a single parent.
“Adoption was one option, but it’s complicated and can take a long time. Surrogacy was an intriguing and faster option. I thought, ‘I’m going to jump into this with no fear,'” he told People at the time.
Ten years later, Martin and his husband, Yosef, welcomed their first daughter together, Lucia. A year later, in 2019, they added a fourth child to their growing brood, a son Renn.
They announced their split in July 2023, reported Entertainment Weekly.
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The E! host and her husband had been going through IVF when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. Before she underwent a double mastectomy and radiation, they retrieved eggs and eventually used a surrogate for the birth of their son, Duke.
Since the birth of Duke, the couple have been extremely open about their journey to have another baby. In 2015, Giuliana told People that their surrogate had miscarried with their last embryo.
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Fallon said, “My wife and I had been trying a while to have a baby. We tried a bunch of things — so we had a surrogate,” and they decided to keep it a secret until their first daughter, Winnie, was born in 2013. “We said, ‘We’re not going to tell anybody.’ It’d be just more fun if it’s just private between me and my wife. And then we get to introduce her to everybody.”
They repeated the secrecy with the birth of their second daughter, Frances, in 2014.
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According to The Telegraph, both of their sons, Zachary and Elijah, were carried by the same surrogate three years apart.
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The “Fast and Furious” star and her now ex-husband welcomed both sons, Rowan and Julian, via surrogate in 2013 and 2016.
“I didn’t really have a choice about being open, since it was obvious I wasn’t pregnant. And for me it wasn’t a choice, I needed to use a surrogate. But I didn’t feel judged, it’s more like I felt awkward,” she told Yahoo! in 2015.
She continued, “Even recently, we were at this baby group, and the teacher made the assumption, ‘Well, you all birthed your children,’ and I couldn’t be like, ‘Well, actually…’ So sometimes I feel a little left out when other moms talk about what their birth experience was like, and I feel the loss of not having carried or having been able to carry. But luckily I keep my circle tight and close, so I never feel judged.”
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Union was already a stepmother to Wade’s three children from his previous marriage, but the two welcomed a daughter of their own, Kaavia, in 2018.
“We are sleepless and delirious but so excited to share that, our miracle baby, arrived last night via surrogate and 11/7 will forever be etched in our hearts as the most loveliest of all the lovely days. Welcome to the party sweet girl,” Wade shared on Twitter (now known as X).
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The “Friday Night Lights” alum and his wife, “Kingdom” actress Sanchez, were overjoyed to announce the birth of their daughter Zeppelin via surrogate in December 2017.
“We have always wanted to be parents, and Zeppelin has made our dreams come true,” they said in a statement to People.
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Buffington and Quaid, who got divorced in 2016, welcomed fraternal twins named Thomas and Zoe in 2007.
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Lucas has three other adopted children in addition to his biological daughter Everest, who was born in 2013.
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De Niro has seven children in total. With Toukie Smith, De Niro has twins, Julian and Aaron, born in 1995 with the help of a gestational carrier.
The “Irishman” star also has two children with ex-wife Grace Hightower. Hightower gave birth to their son, Elliot, in 1998. In 2011, they welcomed a daughter, Helen, via surrogate.
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