The Truth about Pregnancy and Hollywood

Now that Kelly Preston is pregnant at age 47, medical correspondents all over the world are misleading women about pregnancy for women over 40. I recently heard TV doctor personality, Dr. Drew Pinsky, say that as long as a woman is getting her period, she can get pregnant. Statements like this are unfair to women over 40 struggling with infertility. The truth is that having a monthly period, doesn’t mean that you have a chance of pregnancy.

I have recently received an increase in the number of phone calls from women in their late 40s asking me if I can help them like Kelly Preston’s doctor helped her.  Unfortunately, when Hollywood women in their late 40s and 50s get pregnant, they aren’t being truthful about how their pregnancy came about.

From a biological stand-point, pregnancy chances are very low (close to impossible) when a woman approaches menopause. Pregnancy chances are practically zero within 5 years before a woman’s menopause.

Many movie stars over 45 getting pregnant are not using their own eggs. For example, in 2004, 54 year old Joan London, talk show host, spoke about using a surrogate for her twins. She contributed to the spread of misinformation in this country regarding pregnancy in women over 40 – that if only you work hard enough or have enough money, it will happen. When asked if she used donor eggs – she denied it. Nancy Grace, TV lawyer, delivered twins at the age of 48 in 2007. She suffered life threatening complications during her pregnancy and almost died. She has denied using donor eggs as well. If Hollywood women are going to go on Larry King to talk about their pregnancies, it would be great if they could also educate women about reproductive aging and what is truly attainable.

It’s just as hard for Hollywood women to get pregnant as it is for you. It seems that in every magazine you turn to, you see a Hollywood couple walking down the street in a double stroller. Everywhere you look, magazines are not only profiling Hollywood pregnancies but Hollywood babies. It almost seems like all movie stars do today is have babies. Celine Dion has been very open about her IVF struggles. She has even announced an IVF pregnancy only to miscarry soon after. She recently announced that she is 13 weeks pregnant with  IVF twins at age 42.

Why aren’t the stars talking about their fertility struggles? Elizabeth Edwards’ wife delivered a baby at age 48 and age 50 and doesn’t talk about her fertility challenges. Cheryl Tiegs had twins at age 52 through a surrogate and tells news agencies that they were conceived with her own eggs. So this is the thing, the decision to tell a child that they were conceived using donor eggs is up to the parents – not the media. The misinformation continues as Hollywood continues to distort the reality of pregnancy over age 40. I think the solution should be, if you’re famous enough to have everyone want to know about your pregnancy, do something for women over 40 and be honest about how you got pregnant. There is a  35 year old woman out there right now who may delay pregnancy because she hears a TV doctor say that Kelly Preston could get pregnant easily at age 47 because she has a monthly period.