Celebs Who Struggled To Have A Family

This article contains discussions about miscarriage, mental health issues, and traumatic childbirth and pregnancy experiences. 

Bringing a child into the world is a life-changing experience that can completely alter a person's perspective. Supermodel Karlie Kloss once called becoming a new mom, "The greatest joy that I never knew" during an interview with Today. Meanwhile, Janet Jackson described to Billboard how becoming a parent changed her priorities and outlook on life. "Day after day and night after night, holding my baby in my arms, I am at peace," she explained. "... In those moments, all is right with the world." Unfortunately, wanting to build a family isn't always so easy, and these celebs who struggled to have a family have all experienced the grief of that truth firsthand. 

The subject of maternal health, including prenatal, perinatal, postnatal, and pregnancy complications, is a difficult one for many to experience. It can also be a hard one to talk about. Even though one in four pregnancies may end in miscarriage, the topic can sadly all-too-often be associated with stigma and shame. Each of the individuals in this feature bared their souls about the intimate details of their struggle to conceive including fertility treatments, complicated pregnancies, and postpartum depression. However, by speaking out about their experiences, these celebs have helped to normalize the topic for others. By spreading awareness on the subject, they may have also helped to provide comfort to the many people experiencing similar.  

In 2021, Britney Spears tried to break free from the restrictive conservatorship that controlled her life for 13 years. During her legal battle, she delivered a statement to the court describing her desire for autonomy, per Variety, where she testified, "I deserve to have a life." One part of her extensive plea for freedom saw her laying bare her frustration with having her reproductive rights restricted. Spears alleged that she had a birth control device fitted in her uterus and was forbidden to remove it. 

"I was told right now in the conservatorship, I'm not able to get married or have a baby," she explained about the IUD. "But this so-called team won't let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don't want me to have children — any more children." The superstar is already a mom to sons Sean and Jayden with ex-husband Kevin Federline. Months after the conservatorship ended, Spears announced on Instagram that she was expecting her third child with fiancé Sam Asghari.

In the post, the "Stronger" singer opened up about her insecurities as a mom, writing that she felt attacked by the media when she was pregnant in the past. She added, "When I was pregnant I had perinatal depression ... I have to say it is absolutely horrible." At least she knows there's one person she can lean on. "I'm always going to support her," Asghari told Men's Health. "She is another blessing that happened to me."

In August 2020, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend announced that they were expecting their third child. However, the two suffered a devastating loss when their son, who they named Jack, was stillborn after health complications during pregnancy in October of that year. In an emotional essay written for Medium, Teigen revealed that the baby was just 20 weeks old. 

After keeping it to themselves for a month, Teigen opened up about the couple's loss on Instagram. "We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we've never felt before," she wrote. The model and TV star received many messages of support, but some called her out on social media for sharing photos from the hospital, which included one of her holding Jack. Responding to the criticism, she wrote in her Medium essay, "These photos are only for the people who need them. The thoughts of others do not matter to me."

During a joint interview with "Good Morning America," the "Cravings" cookbook author acknowledged that Legend was uncomfortable taking the heartbreaking pictures. However, her husband ultimately saw the power and impact of the post and how it helped others. The "All of Me" singer praised his wife's courage in sharing their experience and added, "The crazy thing about having a miscarriage is you don't walk away with anything, you have this emptiness, and we wanted to take the photos so we had something to remember him by."

In 2017, female tennis GOAT Serena Williams was expecting a child with her husband,  Alexis Ohanian. Soon, she would be facing a life-threatening ordeal, per Vogue. The tennis champ's heart rate dropped while she was having contractions, and their daughter, Olympia, was subsequently delivered via an emergency C-section. When she first cradled her baby, she recalled, "That was an amazing feeling ... and then everything went bad."

Per the outlet, Williams has a history of blood clots in her lungs. During labor, she experienced difficulty breathing and told the nurse she needed a CT scan and a heparin drip. As Williams wrote in a personal essay for Elle, all she got was resistance, with the nurse reportedly responding, "I think all this medicine is making you talk crazy." The scan ended up showing several clots in her lungs and the sports star underwent multiple surgeries during her six-day nightmare in hospital. There, she experienced multiple complications including a ruptured C-section wound, internal bleeding, and a large hematoma in her belly. 

Writing for Elle, Williams suggested that much of her experience could have likely been avoided if the medical staff would have listened to her from the start. As she noted, the issue may reach well beyond her own experiences. "In the U.S., Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts," she wrote. "... Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me."

During the eighth season of "Friends," Courtney Cox's character, Monica Geller-Bing, stood by as her character's best friend welcomed a baby daughter into the world. What viewers didn't know is that the actor had just experienced a miscarriage behind-the-scenes. "That was hard," she told Matt Lauer for NBC News, "Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny." As she revealed during the interview, Cox had actually experienced a series of miscarriages after discovering her blood possessed a rare antibody that attacked each fetus.

Still, she didn't give up. Per People, in 2004 she and David Arquette, whom she was married to at the time, welcomed daughter Coco into the world. Speaking to Lauer that same year she described how her family history made her heartbreaking experiences with miscarriages all the more difficult. "It was really weird because everyone in my family has kids. I mean, they pop out like it's nobody's business," she explained.

In 2018, the star helmed the weekly docu-series "9 Months" on Facebook Watch in a bid to share the stories of pregnant women across the nation, with all the emotional highs and lows that may bring. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, she highlighted the importance of sharing such experiences. "If I can share any light or give any wisdom to somebody or hope, I would share anything I can," she said, noting that it's important for people to know they're not alone if they're struggling. 

Alanis Morissette is unquestionably a force of nature. At 44, the seven-time Grammy winner wanted to have a third child with hubby Mario "Souleye" Treadway and nothing was going to stand in her way. In an interview with Self, she said, "I always wanted to have three kids, and then I've had some challenges and some miscarriages so I just didn't think it was possible ... [I] felt so much grief and fear. I chased and prayed for pregnancy." Per Today, those prayers were answered, as the new mom announced the arrival of her son, Winter Mercy, on Instagram in 2019. 

The "Jagged Little Pill" star has also been open about her experiences with postpartum depression. She told Self that initially, she put off getting help for it after the birth of her first child. However, she was informed by a doctor that simply pushing through the pain would only make her symptoms worse. Speaking to People in 2017, Morisette stated of her PPD experience, "There are days I'm debilitated to the point where I can barely move." The singer shared that those symptoms included insomnia, chronic pain, and intrusive visions of her family being hurt. 

Though she's been open about her struggle, Morissette acknowledged that it's not an easy subject to talk about, telling the outlet, "The stigma remains in a really big way." To steady herself through her symptoms, the star said that she had thrown herself back into her music and began writing songs. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Despite her incredible career, in 2021 Nicole Kidman revealed that she carried one significant regret, telling Marie Claire, "I wish I'd had more children, but I wasn't given that choice." In an interview with Who (via ABC News), the mother of four once explained that she had miscarriages, an ectopic pregnancy, and failed fertility treatments on her journey to conceive. "I've done all the stuff you can possibly do to try to get pregnant," she explained. Instead, Kidman and her first husband, Tom Cruise, adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, before they divorced in 2001.

When the "Big Little Lies" star married musician Keith Urban in 2006, they were able to bring a daughter, Sunday Rose, into the world together. As Kidman told Who (via ABC News), she was surprised but overjoyed when she realized she had managed to get pregnant. "The percentages were so low," she said. "It is the miracle in my life." However, when the pair wanted to try for a second child, they had to take a different route and in 2011, Faith Margaret joined the family via gestational carrier. 

Speaking about her fourth child on "60 Minutes Australia," the Oscar-winner talked about the frustration and grief of experiencing fertility issues. She also shared how much love and appreciation she felt for the woman who carried her fourth child. "I get emotional even talking about it because I'm so grateful to her," she said.