Kristen Wiig opened up in a recent InStyle interview about her in vitro fertilization (IVF ) journey that ultimately led her to have twins viasurrogacy .- Before welcoming twins in January with her fiancé, Avi Rothman, Wiig underwent three years of IVF treatments.
- "Emotionally, spiritually, and medically, it was probably the most difficult time in my life," she told InStyle.
- Sharing her IVF journey helped Wiig find a support system of others who had experienced the same difficulties.
In an interview for InStyle's September issue, Kristen Wiig shared the difficulties she experienced undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments before she decided to have children through a surrogate.
Wiig, 46, and her fiancé, actor and writer Avi Rothman, have been together for five years.
Three of those years were spent undergoing the physical and emotional process of IVF.
"Emotionally, spiritually, and medically, it was probably the most difficult time in my life. I wasn't myself," Wiig told InStyle's Editor-in-Chief, Laura Brown.
Wiig said that she experienced 'stress and heartache' in the years she spent undergoing IVF
The "Bridesmaids" actress said that months were spent by the phone waiting for test results, only to receive bad news time and again.
Wiig also shared some of the more intimate details of the IVF process.
"I gave myself shots in airplane bathrooms and at restaurants — and those shots are no joke," she told InStyle.
However, after three years, Wiig said she realized that she needed help and was able to find the "most amazing surrogate."
Opening up about her IVF journey helped Wiig find a support system of others undergoing the same process
Wiig has been isolating with her fiancé and twins in Los Angeles since mid-March and initially wanted to keep her surrogacy journey under wraps to protect her privacy. However, she said that she wants to maintain her privacy while also helping other women who are undergoing IVF.
The "Wonder Woman 1984" star shared that undergoing the IVF treatment can be the "most isolating experience."
Wiig said that she found comfort in speaking with people who had gone through the same process.
"As private as I am and as sacred as this all is, what helped me was reading about other women who went through it and talking to those who have gone through IVF and fertility stuff," Wiig told the outlet.
By talking about her treatment, Wiig said she found a community of people who were also undergoing IVF.
"You go through so much self-deprecation, and you feel like your partner may be seeing you in a different way and all this other stuff we make up in our heads," Wiig said in the interview. "But when I did talk about it, every time I said that I was going through IVF, I would meet someone who was either going through it, about to go through it, or had a friend who just did it. It's like this underground community that's talked about but not talked about."
"I wish I had talked about it more and asked for more help," she told the outlet.
IVF is a long and complicated process and treatments can be tens of thousands of dollars
IVF involves the "joining of a woman's egg and a man's sperm in a laboratory dish," according to the US National Library of Medicine.
The most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) states that 1 to 2% of all US births annually occur as a result of IVF.
An IVF cycle in the US can cost $12,000 to $17,000 on average, and medications that go along with treatment range from $3,000 to $5,000, according to a 2014 article from Forbes.
Other
Angela Bassett and Giuliana Rancic also tried IVF treatments before welcoming children through surrogates.
Kim Kardashian West has also been vocal about deciding to use a surrogate for the birth of her youngest two children, Chicago, 2, and Psalm, 1. Kardashian West previously experienced complications during labor and delivery due to a condition she has known as placenta accreta.