NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 04: Gabrielle Union attends “American Son” opening night at Booth Theatre on November 04, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade welcomed their first child together, a baby girl born via surrogate. And while the new addition is his fourth kid, it has been a long time coming for Union, who at 46, has tried for years to have a child with Wade. She’s had numerous miscarriages, tried IVF, and even been told that she had a condition called adenomyosis that could be holding her back in some way. But Union hasn’t let that stop her. She has always been sure that she wanted motherhood, so much so that she even put it on her annual vision board many times, including this year.
“The only things that have not come to pass are a cosmetics line, Machu Picchu, and a baby,” she said back in February. “I’ve had the positive stick, but also a number of miscarriages, so maybe I just have to go more specific and show a woman with a human being traveling through her orifices. I’ll put those things back on this year’s board and see what happens.”
As we know, great things happened!
Union isn’t alone in her choice to try for a child via surrogate. According to the CDC, between 1999 and 2013, 30,927 of all “assisted reproductive technology cycles” used a gestational carrier, or surrogate. It’s not an easy choice to make, as finding a surrogate, paying them and dealing with the emotional aspect of everything can be a lot. But it worked for Union, as it has for a number of other celebrity women (and men) who had children via surrogate. That includes the likes of Kim Kardashian, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Ellen Pompeo, Lucy Lui and more. But what about Black women who’ve done it? Hit the flip to see nine other well-known women who decided to (or said they will soon) have a child with the help of a surrogate.
