Former "Saturday Night Live" star Kristen Wiig, who welcomed twins via surrogate with fiancé Avi Rothman earlier this year, is talking about how difficult IVF was for her.
“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,” she told InStyle magazine.
“It can be the most isolating experience. But I’m trying to find that space where I can keep my privacy and also be there for someone else who may be going through it," The "Bridesmaids" star added.
Wiig, 46, explained that she and Rothman endured a lot of hardship before expanding their family.
“We’ve been together for about five years, and three of them were spent in an IVF haze,” she said. “Emotionally, spiritually, and medically, it was probably the most difficult time in my life. I wasn’t myself. There are so many emotions that go with it — you’re always waiting by the phone and getting test results, and it was just bad news after bad news.”
“It got to the point where I just kind of stopped talking about it entirely, because I would get sad whenever someone asked,” she continued. “It was just part of my life. I gave myself shots in airplane bathrooms and at restaurants — and those shots are no joke.”
Wiig said the struggle to conceive took a toll on her, though she was surprised to discover she was not alone in what she was experiencing.
“It’s hard not to personalize it when you get a negative result,” she said. “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.
“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.”
The comedian admits she had trouble coming to terms with the reality that she needed help starting a family.
"I remember when our doctor mentioned going other routes, and I was just like, 'Nope. Don’t ever bring that up again. I’m getting pregnant. I’m doing this.' I finally realized that I just needed help. And, thank God, we found the most amazing surrogate," she said.
Now that Wiig has children, she told the outlet that her career has taken a backseat — and she's more than OK with it.
“It’s obviously slower now; almost nonexistent,” she said. “It’s a lot of waiting. But now that I have these two little ones, my mind is just not on work. Even if this global pandemic weren’t going on, I would want to be with my kids. Obviously, some days I get more sleep than others, but it is what it is. And it’s frickin’ awesome.”