From Pain to Parenthood: 10+ Celebrity Women Who Fought to Become Moms

Being a mom isn’t always easy, especially when the whole world is watching. Many famous women have gone through really tough times to become parents. Some struggled with infertility, others had miscarriages, emotional pain, or had to raise kids on their own. This article shares the real and powerful stories of famous moms who went through a lot, but never gave up on their dream of having a child.

1. Maria Menounos

The TV presenter spent 10 years on unsuccessful attempts at IVF. Finally, she decided to use the services of a surrogate mother. However, the woman who initially agreed to carry a child for Maria had to part ways with them as she no longer met the medical requirements. It was very difficult for the couple to obtain “truly good” embryos.

All these numerous obstacles on the way to their desired goal had tortured the star so much that she told the doctors who offered her another attempt to have a child with the help of a surrogate mother: “This is the last straw. If this doesn’t happen, then it’s definitely not meant to be. I can’t go through this again.” In February 2023, a happy Maria shared the news with her followers that she and her husband are finally expecting a child.

2. Megan Fox

Megan became pregnant with Machine Gun Kelly’s child in November 2024—after they had already split—and continued the pregnancy knowing they had ended their relationship. During this time, she carried their daughter as a single mom-to-be, navigating the emotional complexities of becoming a parent while separated.

Their daughter was born on March 27, 2025. Though no longer romantically together, Megan and MGK have committed to co-parenting amicably.

3. Anne Hathaway

“All kidding aside, for everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies,” the actress wrote on her Instagram page, saying she’s expecting a second child.

In her interviews, she said she was very upset when she saw other women get pregnant easily. Hathaway encourages open discussions of this topic, so that the women who go through this don’t feel as if they are in hell.

4. Gabrielle Union

In 2018, Gabrielle Union and her ex-husband, NBA player Dwayne Wade, were finally able to embrace their newborn daughter from a surrogate mother, after the actress and model had experienced “eight or nine” miscarriages. Gabrielle had been unaware of her adenomyosis for many years and now openly shares her experience and advises women not to hide problems with contraception, but to seek treatment.

5. Jennifer Lawrence

The actress is not shy talking about her early pregnancy. At the age of 20, she found out she was pregnant and thought she wasn’t ready to become a mother. She didn’t have to make a final decision, as nature took its course. Later, after making a conscious decision to get pregnant, Jennifer suffered another miscarriage. So, it wasn’t easy for her to give birth to her baby Saya.

Though she kept much of her pregnancy private, Jennifer Lawrence later admitted that motherhood hit her like an emotional freight train. Lawrence found postpartum “extremely isolating,” with “extreme anxiety and extreme depression”. She struggled with fears, identity shifts, and the overwhelming responsibility of protecting a new life.

6. Giuliana Rancic

The TV presenter went through 3 IVF cycles. She shares that she was able to get pregnant after her first attempt, but then suffered a miscarriage. After the second cycle, pregnancy did not occur, and it was like a “punch in the gut” after everything she had been through. When Giuliana went for her 3rd IVF cycle and was ready for embryo transfer, she found out that she had breast cancer and would need a long treatment. A surrogate mother gave birth to Giuliana’s child.

7. Lily Collins

Before becoming a mother, Lily Collins opened up about confronting deep emotional scars, including a strained relationship with her famous father, Phil Collins. She worked through years of body image issues, eating disorders, and self-worth struggles—knowing she didn’t want to carry that pain into parenthood. Her journey was as much about healing herself as it was about becoming a mom.

Lily Collins and her husband, director Charlie McDowell, joyfully welcomed their first child, a daughter named Tove Jane McDowell, via surrogate earlier this year. Despite choosing surrogacy partly due to her past struggles with eating disorders and body image—ensuring childbirth wouldn’t trigger a relapse—she’s said publicly that becoming a mother was a dream worth any challenge and a new chapter of healing.

8. Pink

In 2019, the singer recorded the song “Happy,” in which she revealed that at the age of 17, she had hated her body. Later, in an interview, Pink explained that this hatred was linked to an early pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. After this incident, several more attempts by the singer to have a child ended in the loss of an unborn baby. Pink now has 2 lovely children, but she remembers the feeling of shame and pain, and believes it is important to talk about them.

9. Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman faced several miscarriages during her first marriage. Later, she adopted children and also had a biological daughter, followed by another child via gestational surrogacy, highlighting the different paths to motherhood.

The Hollywood actress is now a mother of four: she has a son and a daughter through adoption, a daughter she gave birth to herself, and another daughter born via surrogacy. Her two biological daughters are with her husband, Keith Urban, whom she married in 2006.

10. Christina Perri

The year 2020 proved to be particularly difficult for the singer — she suffered a miscarriage in January and lost her newborn daughter Rosie in November. A few months later, Christina learned that she had a treatable blood disorder that could have been the cause of these tragedies. The star set out to help other women avoid her painful experience by spreading information about blood tests for genetic disorders. 2 years later, Christina’s fourth pregnancy ended successfully with the birth of a healthy baby girl.

11. Lily Allen

In 2010, the singer suffered a miscarriage after contracting a viral infection during her sixth month of pregnancy. Later, Allen spoke about it, saying, “I held my child and it was really horrific and painful—one of the hardest things that can happen to a person.” In 2011, the star was able to give birth to her first child, but the girl was seriously ill for a long time.

12. Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy emphasized the importance of sensitivity around the topic of children, urging people not to ask couples about their plans to start a family, as such questions can be painful, especially when fertility struggles are involved.

After openly sharing her journey with infertility over the years, Chrissy Teigen underwent IVF, which led to the birth of her daughter, Luna, with husband John Legend in April 2016. Later, Teigen revealed that the couple chose to have a girl, saying she was “most excited and allured by the fact that John would be the best father to a little girl.” The couple likely selected the baby’s sex through Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)—a process that, while costly, is more common than many assume. “I picked the girl from her little embryo,” Teigen explained.

These moms prove that you never really know what someone is going through. Behind the fame and photos are real women who faced heartbreak, fear, and huge challenges. But they kept going.