The road to motherhood can sometimes be turbulent. While it comes easy for some, for others, it’s painful and heartbreaking and exhausting. It can take a toll on a woman or couple, and whether there’s in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination involved, or they turn to surrogacy or adoption, for many celebrities, it’s a journey taken with no regrets. These are just 12 stars who have gone public with their fertility challenges.

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Rebel Wilson
Rebel Wilson took to Instagram to candidly reveal her struggles around infertility. "I got some bad news today and didn't have anyone to share it with...but I guess I gotta tell someone," she wrote in a caption. "To all the women out there struggling with fertility, I feel ya. The universe works in mysterious ways and sometimes it all doesn't make sense... but I hope there's light about to shine through all the dark clouds."
Fans showed their support in the comments by sending love to the star.
Fans showed their support in the comments by sending love to the star.

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Meghan Markle
The Duchess of Sussex penned an emotional letter in the New York Times last summer, detailing her miscarriage. "Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage," she wrote. "Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning."
The Duchess welcomed baby Archie back in 2019 and Markle and Prince Harry are expecting a little girl later this year.
The Duchess welcomed baby Archie back in 2019 and Markle and Prince Harry are expecting a little girl later this year.

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Gabrielle Union
Union didn't know she wanted to have kids — until she bonded with her now-husband, Dwyane Wade's children. She struggled with IVF for years, and suffered multiple miscarriages, before turning to surrogacy. They welcomed their daughter, Kaavia, in 2018.

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Amy Schumer
Schumer has always been open, honest and hilarious — freely speaking about anything and everything on social media. She had a rough pregnancy with son Gene, often chronicling her nausea and vomiting spells, but that hasn't stopped her and husband Chris Fischer from trying again. It hasn't been easy, though, as the actress-comedian has shared her IVF struggles, and regaled the tale of how she froze her eggs, talked about her results, but also thanked fans for their support and sharing their own struggles and keeping that dialogue alive.

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Chrissy Teigen
Teigen may be a big personality but sometimes what she's put out there has been so vastly opposite of what was going on behind closed doors. Teigen has been open about her postpartum depression and anxiety, but equally frank about her struggles to get pregnant. She and husband John Legend went through years of heartbreak but they now have kids Luna and Miles, thanks to IVF.

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Brooke Shields
Shields has been frank about her infertility issues, and how she had surgery on her cervix to remove precancerous cells, which left scarring that made it difficult for her to become pregnant. She and husband Chris Henchy tried artificial insemination several times, but the procedure was unsuccessful. That's when they turned to IVF and while that was also a long road, they are the proud parents of two daughters, Rowan and Grier.

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Nancy Juvonen
It took five years for Juvonen and husband Jimmy Fallon to get pregnant and while they kept daughter, Winnie, a secret until the very last minute, the late-night host decided to use his fame to speak up about infertility issues. Fallon admitted their struggles were "awful" but wanted others who were dealing with the same thing to "hang in there" because it's "so worth it." Four years later, they had daughter Frances, also via gestational surrogacy.

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Padma Lakshmi
For years, Lakshmi struggled with endometriosis (a condition that occurs when tissues that line the uterus grow outside the uterus, resulting in painful menstrual cycles and uterine scarring that could lead to infertility). Prior to two surgeries to treat the condition, the Top Chef host froze her eggs in insurance and at the age of 39, Lakshmi became pregnant and in 2010, Lakshmi welcomed daughter Krishna.

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Emma Thompson
Thompson and husband Greg Wise have spoken out about their experiences with IVF. They had success in 1999, when their daughter, Gaia, was born but their second attempt was unsuccessful. The Oscar winner admitted she became depressed but by 2003, she and Wise took a different journey and adopted son Tindy Agaba, a refugee child soldier from Rwanda, when he was 16.

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Giuliana Rancic
In 2011, Rancic was diagnosed with breast cancer and was prescribed medication that made getting pregnant a risk. The following year, she and husband Bill Rancic welcomed son Edward Duke — via surrogacy. They tried again but, sadly, their surrogate suffered a miscarriage with their third and last remaining embryo.

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Tyra Banks
During a taping of FabLife, Chrissy Teigen begged the audience to stop asking her about children because her struggle to conceive was real. That's when co-host Banks stepped up, co-signing Teigen's message, and revealed that she underwent difficult IVF treatments to become pregnant with son, York.
Related: Amazing TV moms to aspire to be like.

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Kate Walsh
In 2015, Walsh revealed that because she went through menopause early, having children is out of the question — but she was rational and blunt about her situation.
"I don't know if you can actually have it all," she said on SiriusXM. "I think it’s a bit of a myth in that it's this huge pressure. Am I 'less than' if I'm not a mother? If I’m not a rock star in my career? I don't know."
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