Supermodel Chrissy Teigen’s IVF journey has been quite difficult but she continues to share these stories to give hope to other infertile couples.
After tying the knot with John Legend in September 2013, the “All of Me” singer openly declared that they want a lot of kids and a huge family.
However, the swimsuit model did not have it easy—she was devastated when her first IVF cycle failed. There are many reasons for failure of IVF and the doctors don’t always find out why. The couple revealed in October 2015 that they’d been trying to conceive with IVF.
Dealing with IVF failure
“You hear stories about IVF working the first try. But you’ll hear a lot more stories about when it takes a few times,” she said in an interview with The Cut. “Ours didn’t work the first time, and it was devastating. You realize that a lot of it is luck, and you can’t blame things on yourself.”
However, like a lot of women, Teigen initially took the blame and tortured herself into thinking that somehow, she was responsible for the failed IVF.
“The first round I did of IVF, when it didn’t work, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, I was on my feet too much, and that’s why.’ You just look for anything to blame, especially yourself,” she said. “I think hearing stories is just really important. You realize there’s no right way to do it, or right way to react.”
Resentful of women with easy pregnancies
Teigen explained that going through IVF brought about a whirlwind of emotions and for some time there, she even felt aggrieved and resentful about the pregnancies of others.
“It’s easy to grow resentful of how easy it is for some people, when you’re literally mixing your own powders and chemicals to inject into your belly, shoving progesterone up there,” she said.
However, she says, once you get to hold your baby, it’s easy to forget all that pain, no matter how unfair you thought it was.
“It’s a complete miracle when it works,” she said. There are so many people that still struggle, even with access to IVF.”
Teigen is right. The cost of IVF can be discouraging and even being able to afford these treatments comfortably is a blessing.
Infertility Aide strives to provide you easy access to affordable IVF. Many of our clients from the US & Canada prefer to fly to Mexico for affordable IVF.
Chrissy Teigen IVF babies
After her embryo transfer failed in the initial attempt, and she opted to get an acupuncture treatment for pregnancy before taking another chance. Luckily, the second cycle worked and the couple welcomed their daughter, Luna Simone Stephens, on April 14, 2016.
“I remember having an acupuncturist come in because our first embryo hadn’t taken and I had really regretted that I hadn’t done acupuncture for some reason. When they inserted her little egg, it just shot across like a little shooting star,” Teigen wrote in a social post. “Seeing it, and then praying that it would stick and stay, and sure enough, she did. And now she’s about to be five years old.”
They still had another frozen embryo, and about two years later—on May 17, 2018—Teigen gave birth to a baby boy, Miles Theodore Stephens. Both children were conceived through the same cycle of IVF.
Unexpected natural pregnancy
In August 2020, the couple announced their third pregnancy via Legend’s music video ‘Wild’, which is a celebration of their love.
In a 2018 interview with People, Teigen said that her two children, Miles and Luna, were both conceived via IVF but “it’d be awesome” to be able to conceive naturally even though she couldn’t even imagine it anymore.
“I didn’t think I could get pregnant naturally,” Teigen wrote on Twitter. “IVF was an amazing choice for us to be able to make. So hard, but we got two beautiful monsters out of it. I promise you, I never ever ever ever ever thought I could.”
Since she wasn’t expecting her pregnancy, Teigen went into surgery to remove her breast implants without confirming if she was really pregnant. She’s been taking pregnancy tests for many years and has never seen a positive outcome.
“I did the routine pregnancy test you do before surgery. It said negative. It was not negative,” she explained. “A few weeks after surgery, I took a test. And for many years now, I’ve taken pregnancy tests almost every month, praying to see a positive one day. Just wishful thinking. I never had a positive before.”
When she actually found out, she was terrified about having undergone boob surgery while being pregnant, but the doctor assured her that luckily, things were alright.
“What they say so often can be true. When you give up on trying, life has a way of surprising you,” Teigen wrote.
Painful miscarriage or abortion?
Tragically, the pregnancy ended prematurely in September 2020. Teigen made this devastating announcement with pictures of herself crying on the hospital bed, as her husband leaned onto her.
Teigen faced pregnancy complications in her second trimester and was put on bed rest before this miscarriage.
“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 in an emotional Instagram post.
They had already “started to call this little guy in my belly Jack. So, he will always be Jack to us. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever.
“To our Jack—I’m so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn’t give you the home you needed to survive. We will always love you,” she wrote at the time.
Two years later, in September 2022, Teigen revealed the pregnancy loss was actually “an abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance. And to be honest, I never, ever put that together until, actually, a few months ago.”
It was one of the many “difficult and heartbreaking decisions”, they’d had to make at the time.
Chrissy Teigen on opting for IVF again
IVF with endometriosis has good chances of success and since her endometriosis was treated, Teigen was feeling much better to carry another baby, around 1.5 years after her pregnancy loss.
“Jack was so healthy, and it was just something with my body that was not right at that time. In my mind, I’m like, I need to try again, though. I want to try again,” she said.
They started IVF again “to save as many eggos as I possibly can and hopefully make some strong, healthy embryos,” she shared via Instagram in February 2022.
Later in August of that year, the couple shared the good news that they’re pregnant again!
They welcomed a daughter, Esti Maxine, on January 13, 2023.
John and Chrissy Teigen’s surrogacy
Only five months after the birth of Esti, the couple had another baby, a boy—Wren Alexander—via surrogacy.
Teigen shared that her previous miscarriage made her doubt her own ability to conceive again and they considered two surrogates carry simultaneously with the possibility of having twins.
However, a therapy session helped her realize that she wanted to try another pregnancy. “We’ve already seen the worst. I promised I would be okay no matter what happened,” she wrote.
So, while they did another IVF cycle, they also selected a surrogate, Alexandra, to carry one baby.
The first embryo transfer failed but with the second one, the surrogate became pregnant with their baby boy. “We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra,” Teigen wrote on her social media.
“Our hearts, and our home, are officially full. And to our Jack, we know both their angel kisses are from you,” she added.