What It’s Like Being a Surrogate for Celebrity Babies

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American Shanna St.Clair had two very different experiences in the role. ‘I’ve had two beautiful surrogacy experiences and one that was terrible,’ says Shanna St.Clair Elizabeth Nichols/via BBC More and more celebrities are using surrogacy to have children and speaking openly about it. This is the case of celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton. But what’s it like being a celebrity surrogate mother? American Shanna St.Clair was a surrogate mother twice and had two very different experiences. Paris Hilton Announces She’s Becoming a Mother for the First Time: ‘I’ve Always Dreamed’ Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Announce Birth of Fourth Child Shanna’s phone rang. It was Catherine*. She started talking without even saying hi, “Listen, I wanted to tell you before you saw it on the news. I was using another surrogate and she just gave birth.” Shanna sat up, shocked. There she was, in the first few weeks of pregnancy, with Catherine’s child in her womb. But Catherine was now saying that she had another child. Shanna wasn’t Catherine’s only hired surrogate mother. What did that mean? Would Catherine still want the baby Shanna was carrying? “I wish you had told me,” Shanna said, stunned. “Can we talk after my checkup tomorrow?” Catherine nodded and hung up. Shanna texted Catherine hours later. “I was a little surprised by the news, but I’m really happy for you. Enjoy your baby. We’ll talk after my checkup.” Catherine didn’t answer. And she didn’t call the next day either. Shanna discovered the world of surrogacy by reading a magazine while her three children played on the family farm in rural Pennsylvania. Rihanna, Vivi Araújo, MC Loma and other celebrities who became mothers in 2022 She was delighted. She learned about “traditional” surrogacy—in which women whose own egg is artificially inseminated with donor sperm—and the model in which women carry someone else’s fertilized egg. She discovered the difference between “commercial surrogacy”, where a woman is paid to carry a baby, and “altruistic surrogacy”. The article spoke well of surrogacy. Even commercial surrogacy was a boon for single parents, infertile couples and LGBT families who wanted their own biological children, the article argued. Shanna liked the idea. She had just turned 30 with three easy pregnancies. She and her husband did not want any more children. “I could be a gestational carrier,” she thought. To join a surrogacy agency, Shanna and her husband filled out dozens of questionnaires. They were evaluated by psychologists and doctors and had several meetings with lawyers, says Shanna. A few weeks later, she got a call. A celebrity couple, Jennifer and Mark, had seen her profile and wanted to meet her in New York. Shanna felt an immediate connection with the couple. “They were kind people,” she says. “They went out of their way to understand my life, to get to know my children.” Shanna’s payment would cover travel to the IVF clinic, hotels, fuel, food, and any income she would lose from her job as a hairdresser during her pregnancy. Over three years, she received US$ 50,000 (R$ 250,000). There were several attempts to get pregnant. When she gave birth, Jennifer and Mark were in labor, holding her hand, crying as they thanked her for their new family. Months later, when Jennifer called to ask if she could introduce her to Catherine, Shanna agreed. Catherine was from a famous family. She had been trying to have a child for years, with and without a surrogate. After hearing about Jennifer’s successful experience, she wanted to speak with Shanna. “Thinking back today, there were signs of something troubling since that first phone conversation,” says Shanna. Catherine suggested they avoid a surrogacy agency to save money. Instead, a contract was drawn up by lawyers, Shanna recalls. “She said that since I already had a psychological evaluation in my experience with Jennifer, I didn’t need to have another one.” Shanna agreed to give it three tries. First, there was a process where the surrogate and the egg donor synchronize their menstrual cycles, using daily hormone injections. So Shanna and her husband traveled to meet Catherine in person at the IVF clinic, where the fertilized egg would be placed in Shanna’s uterus. Catherine was waiting for them. Shanna went to hug her, but Catherine pulled away. She didn’t like hugs. She told Shanna that she would stay with her for the egg transfer but would have to leave soon after, Shanna says. Your driver would take you back to your hotel. Shanna thought to herself, “This is going to be very different from the experience with Jennifer and Mark.” The first attempt at pregnancy did not work. The night before Monday, Catherine had Shanna and her husband over for dinner and talked about private jets and designer furniture. Shanna felt uncomfortable with the situation: she was wearing black leggings and an ordinary sweatshirt in a fancy restaurant. She realized they had nothing in common. The next day at the fertility clinic, Catherine was holding a bottle of pills, says Shanna. Catherine suggested that the first attempt would have failed because Shanna was nervous. She handed Shanna a Valium pill, a tranquilizer. “No thanks,” Shanna replied. But Catherine didn’t give up. “She kept saying, ‘What’s the matter, Shanna? A pill won’t hurt you,’ and I felt like I couldn’t argue,” says Shanna. Shanna popped the pill into her mouth, then discreetly spat it out when Catherine wasn’t looking. Again, Shanna did not get pregnant. One attempt remained. ‘I had two beautiful surrogacy experiences and one that was terrible,’ says Shanna St.Clair Elizabeth Nichols/via BBC This time, when they met at the clinic, Catherine was on the phone with her mother, discussing the interior design of one of your homes. She barely spoke to Shanna. Ten days later, good news. Shanna’s levels of hCG—a hormone produced by the placenta—indicated a positive pregnancy. “I was happy,” says Shanna. Catherine, on the other hand, showed no emotion. She said she didn’t want to get too excited because she had already had a surrogate get pregnant and then miscarry. Shanna said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know this had happened.” “It was her fault,” Shanna remembers Catherine replying. Shanna says Catherine told her the surrogate had waited 12 hours at an airport for a flight to visit her father, who was sick. Shanna says she was stunned by Catherine’s next comment: “I told her not to go away, but she did, and look what happened!… Dead baby.” A few days later, Shanna’s hCG levels dropped slightly, but a doctor told her not to give up hope. She called Catherine, who she says coldly replied, “OK, let’s see how it goes.” Shortly thereafter, Catherine called Shanna with the shocking news that another surrogate had just delivered a baby. And she was silent. Shanna continued with her regular check-ups, driving more than an hour to a clinic, unsure if Catherine still wanted the baby. Then, four weeks later, she was told that her hCG levels had dropped a lot. She had a miscarriage. Shanna called Catherine, who didn’t answer, so she texted her the sad news. Hours later, Catherine responded, “I’ll call you shortly.” Several days later, she still hadn’t called. Then Shanna texted her again. “Hi, I hope you and the baby are doing well. Shall I forward the rest of the bills to you?” Then Catherine sent a text message. “Shanna, our relationship is over,” she said. “I am shocked by your coldness about the birth of my son. Forward your bills.” Shanna and Catherine never spoke again. Aria Simuel, who runs Modernly, a VIP surrogacy agency in California, says “Celebrities may be more open about surrogacy now, but that’s been the case for years.” She and her partner were also surrogate mothers. “When a famous person arrives with managers, assistants, head of security, it can be very intimidating for a surrogate mother,” she says. Good agencies manage the relationship, says Aria, making sure the surrogate is comfortable and defending her if necessary, as well as doing background checks and psychological evaluations. There have been cases where surrogacy has crossed the line, too, she adds, trying to sell reality TV ideas to biological parents or asking if they could help a cousin who wants to be a filmmaker. Contracts should make it clear that this “isn’t part of the deal,” says Aria. Four years after her experience with Catherine, Shanna’s former agency asked if she would be willing to be introduced to another couple. After getting to know them and liking them, she agreed to work one last time. This time she gave birth to twins. “I think I needed something good to change the horrible experience with Catherine,” says Shanna. “I’ve had two beautiful surrogacy experiences and one that was terrible.” Today, Shanna runs a beauty salon in her hometown. Over the sound of the hair dryer, her clients talk to her about local and celebrity gossip, and often the conversation turns to fertility and family. “Every week I talk to people who are trying to have children, who have just had children, who have lost babies, who can’t have children, who say they never want to have children, who want to try any way to have children,” says Shanna. “Being a surrogate mother is not for everyone. But in such a personal matter, if everyone involved is happy and empowered, we shouldn’t judge other people’s choices.” * All biological parents’ names have been changed – This entry was originally published in

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