For context, Rebel has long been candid about her desire to start a family — and about having polycystic ovarian syndrome. In mid-2021, she wrote on Instagram, “I got some bad news today and didn’t have anyone to share it with…but I guess I gotta tell someone. To all the women out there struggling with fertility, I feel ya.”
Thankfully, last month, Rebel revealed that she had welcomed her first child — a daughter named Royce Lillian — via surrogate.
Speaking to Today, Rebel explained how her journey to motherhood began in 2020. “I was getting to 40 and I was like, ‘I really do want to become a mother,'” she began.
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“But at the time, I didn’t have a partner, and so I went to the fertility doctor,” she explained. Subsequently, Rebel began trying IVF. “Then it was devastating when I’d gone through three egg-harvesting procedures and then, while I was filming The Almond and the Seahorse, I tried to create embryos from the eggs, and none of them survived.”
She continued, “Being healthy and [doing] everything the doctors had said, and feeling awesome — and then it didn’t work. All 18 eggs that I had, none of them worked. I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ It was such an emotional roller coaster.”
Rebel said, “I was still young enough to try a few more times, and then luckily got my gorgeous baby girl. Having a baby via a surrogate is a bit different of an experience because in a way, you feel a little disconnected.”
She added, “Even though I had this gorgeous surrogate who was so loving and it was so awesome to get to do this with her. But then it’s not until the baby literally popped out — it was almost like a comedy scene — and then you hold the baby and cut the umbilical cord and…it was just amazing and so emotional.”
You can watch the full interview with Rebel here.
