"Cosplaying Pregnancy": 12 Celebrities Who Discovered That Surrogacy Came With Plenty Of Backlash

Early on during her previous marriage with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman suffered an ectopic pregnancy, a dangerous medical condition where a fertilized egg implants outside the main cavity of the uterus.

She was 23 at the time. The couple later adopted two kids — Isabella and Connor — before splitting in 2001. Months before filing for divorce, she experienced a miscarriage.

She then married musician Keith Urban and welcomed their first child, Sunday Rose, in 2008.

Due to complications stemming from her previous experiences, she was told she would not be able to conceive in the future, but she successfully carried and gave birth to Sunday. 

However, for the birth of their second child, Faith Margaret, who was born in 2010, Kidman and Urban turned to surrogacy.

“No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier,” they wrote, thanking the surrogate in the statement announcing the news. 

One person claimed that “gestational carrier” sounded like “a piece of luggage — room for all your embryonic needs.”

In the following years, Kidman has opened up multiple times about her regret over her infertility issues and not being able to conceive any more children.

“Anyone that’s been in the place of wanting another child or wanting a child knows the disappointment, the pain, and the loss that you go through trying and struggling with fertility,” Kidman told 60 Minutes in 2011. 

“Fertility is such a big thing, and it’s not something I’ve ever run away from talking about.”

The Practical Magic star opened up about her pregnancy losses in a 2018 interview with Tatler, calling it a “massive grief.”

“There’s a huge, aching yearning. I know the yearning,” she said. “nd the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough.”

In 2021, she told Marie Claire, “I wish I’d had more children, but I wasn’t given that choice. I would’ve loved 10 kids.”

After disappearing from public view for months after her last tour, Mayhem Ball, Lady Gaga, 40, was first spotted on September 10 with a baby in her arms while strolling in Northern California with her entrepreneur fiancé, Michael Polansky.

TMZ reported days later that the couple, who got engaged in 2024 and have kept their relationship low-profile, welcomed a baby girl named Rose Bean Polansky via surrogacy on June 9, 2026, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Dr. Robert Katz, the OB-GYN who previously helped Ciara Wilson welcome her daughter Sienna, delivered Rose.

The surrogacy revelation immediately drew heat from detractors.

“She could have adopted or simply given up on motherhood, but she chose to exploit a woman to satisfy her desire,” one angry viewer said. Another wrote, “Bought this way,” mimicking Gaga’s hit song Born This Way. 

“The women who participate in surrogacy do so voluntarily and consciously, motivated by the desire to help others become parents and receiving fair economic compensation for it,” one argued back.

“You will NEVER see a rich and powerful woman being a surrogate for a poor stranger. It's always the other way around. It's nothing but the exploitation of female bodies and human trafficking. SHAME ON YOU, LADY GAGA!” another responded.

“She had it through surrogacy, attacking women's rights and favoring human trafficking. For me, it's indefensible,” said another.

One reader said, “Lady Gaga is d**d to me cause surrogacy should be a crime.” One more wrote, “They ripped a baby from its mother is what they did.”

On the other hand, others pointed out the “hypocrisy” and “double standard” in the hatred toward Gaga.

“So Twitter was mad at Lady Gaga for using a surrogate and saying she should have adopted,” one wrote. “Now they're mad at Millie Bobby Brown for adopting because she should have birthed her own kids. But JUST last week they were mad at Ciara Wilson for her 5th pregnancy. Are y’all okay?”

“Lady Gaga did not exploit any woman's body. If [the news of] surrogacy is true, she did not point a g*n at another woman, forcing her to gestate her child. You are crazy,” said another.

A third wrote, “Imagine being this pressed about how another woman chose to have her own child.”

Gaga was also called out for choosing a “basic” name for her daughter. 

Insiders have claimed that the name “Rose” is a tribute to her La Vie En Rose cover from her Oscar-nominated 2018 movie, A Star Is Born.
 
Sources have also said that Gaga has wanted to be a mother for a long time, but it was “a hard road to travel physically.”

Gaga had to undergo major surgery in 2013 after a severe tear and fracture in her right hip labrum. A few years later, she opened up about her chronic fibromyalgia and then, in 2021, about crippling mental health issues.

On January 18, 2026, singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, 32, and her husband Daryl Sabara, 33, welcomed their third child and first daughter, Mikey Moon Trainor. 

She shared the news in an Instagram post dated January 21 and thanked their “incredible, superwoman surrogate” for the blessing. 

She also revealed that their two sons, Riley, born in 2021, and Barry, born in 2023, whom she herself carried, were “so excited” to meet their baby sister and chose her middle name. 

Along with the update, Trainor shared several pictures of the newborn. In one photo, she was all tear-eyed, holding Mikey in a towel wrap close to her bare chest. 

This image quickly sparked accusations of being “performative” while not actually birthing the child.

“The photo is as if she gave birth to it... It looks like a Black Mirror episode,” one wrote. Another said, “The audacity to take a picture with the baby they bought.”

“Women and babies are not for sale,” a third commented. A fourth said, “It’s wild to pose with the child as if you were the one who gave birth, just crazy.”

“Honestly, it kinda grosses me out when a woman can get pregnant and not at high risk, but still chooses to use a surrogate. Especially when they're doing it for vanity reasons, it just seems very exploitative,” a fifth chimed in.

As the backlash raged on, the Me Too singer opened up about why she chose to go for surrogacy in an interview with People magazine. 

“It wasn’t our first choice, but we had endless conversations with our doctors on this journey, and this was the safest way for us to be able to continue growing our family,” she said. “We are forever grateful for that option.”

“I want people to know that surrogacy is just another beautiful way to build a family. It’s not something to whisper about or judge. It’s rooted in trust, science, love, and teamwork,” Trainor continued. “Every family’s journey looks different, and all of them are extremely valid.”

“Our surrogate is one of the most selfless, strong, and loving people I’ve ever met,” she added about the woman who brought Mikey to this world.

“We felt so connected throughout the entire journey, and I’ll always be grateful for the care and love she showed our daughter. She gave us the greatest gift of our lives. She graciously answered our many check-in texts to make sure she was doing okay.”

Naomi Campbell welcomed a daughter in May 2021 and a son in June 2023, and later revealed in a 2024 interview with The Times that both were born via surrogacy. 

“My babies are everything to me. It’s made me fear for the future,” Campbell said about the kids. “I hope for a better world for my children. They are 110% my priority. I have to be there for them on their first day at school.”

Campbell has not revealed their names, birthdays, or their likeness on social media so far. She has also said that she’s raising them as a “single mother” and that she’s weary of young women not wanting children. 

“I have said, ‘You will change your mind. You will want to be a mum.’ I understand economically it is tough. But my mum had nothing, and she made it work. It’s worth it. It’s so amazing,” she told the outlet.

Campbell’s comments came across as “tone-deaf” to many netizens. Some also accused her of “faking” a pregnancy, as she did not acknowledge the surrogate until much later. 

“What an obtuse blockhead. Yeah, only you and your rich friends can afford to exploit a poor woman’s body as an incubator,” one person said. “Don’t propagandize parenthood to people who haven’t asked nor can afford the whole surrogate/ nanny/ staff package you can casually use to make that life work for you.”

“I guess only if you’re a millionaire and can afford surrogates and dozens of nannies,” said another.

A third said, “I am not against surrogacy. However, I am against pretending you are pregnant and then having a miraculously thin body after. I think that is extremely damaging.”

A fourth said, “She’s so totally out of touch. The baby is all about HER ambitions, not the happiness and welfare of babies. ‘I must be a mom now.’”

In August 2015, Lucy Liu surprised fans by sharing a picture of herself cradling a baby, revealing that she has a “new little man” in his life, named Rockwell Lloyd Liu. 

A representative for the Charlie’s Angels actress later told Page Six that a gestational surrogate carried the baby. 

“I don't understand how surrogacy isn't seen as a dystopian concept,” one user reacted to the news. Another commented, “Surrogacy is completely unethical in every form.”

“Rich people buying everything they need,” a third said. A fourth wrote, “Please do not promote reproductive exploitation and child trade.”

If users were up in arms about her choice to use surrogacy, the reason behind her decision infuriated them even more. 

In 2020, Liu told People magazine, “It just seemed like the right option for me because I was working and I didn’t know when I was going to be able to stop. I decided that was probably the best solution for me, and it turned out to be great.”

“So she selfishly decided to get a baby from someone else,” one reader commented. “A rich woman bought a child and has staff to do most of the work. Yeah, she's ‘so strong, so brave,’” mocked another.

Enraging users even more, Liu told The Cut in 2023 that she decided to have a kid because she got “tired of” her usual life. 

“I didn’t have a plan. I just thought, I want to change the conversation a little bit,” she said. “I didn’t want to talk about the next project. I felt like I was reading the same script.” 

“I got tired of it. I didn’t want the same dialogue. I’d heard myself say the same things many, many times and just thought, Well, this can’t be what’s next. It wasn’t enough.”

She added that she didn’t “mull it over” too much or do a lot of research: “I just pulled the trigger.”

“A lot of people read books about parenting. I didn’t do any of that. I was like, ‘When the child is here, I’m just going to figure it out,’” she went on, adding that she chose to raise Rockwell in New York to “build common sense.”

In April 2025, People magazine reported that Michelle Williams welcomed a fourth child via surrogacy about six weeks ago. 

It was her third baby with her husband, Thomas Kail, whom she quietly married in 2020. The couple previously had a son named Hart Kail in 2020, and another child in 2022 whose name and gender have been kept private.

Williams is also the mother of Matilda Rose Ledger, 20, whom she shares with the late Heath Ledger. 

“They couldn't be happier to expand their family, and Matilda has been doting on her younger siblings,” a source told the outlet.

In August, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Williams gave a shout-out to the surrogate when Tiffany Haddish complimented her on her physique, saying she looked like she never had any kids.

“Then I've got to give a big shout-out to Christine, because this last baby did not come through my body,” the Brokeback Mountain actress said. “But the miracle of our little girl is thanks to Christine. Maybe you're watching out there — thank you, Christine.”

“Already having three kids and risking another woman's health so they can have a fourth kid and buy it like some f**king product in the store,” one user reacted to the news.

“Celebrities buying wombs of poor women so they can get kid number X. Capitalism at its finest,” said another.

A third wrote, “Each pregnancy is a risk for a woman. No one should have the right to buy another person for whatever reason.”

Earlier in 2023, as a mom of 3, Williams admitted that balancing motherhood and her acting career was sometimes a struggle. 

“That's how every human gets here: a woman giving of herself. [Babies] have to arrive, and they have to be sustained, all of it,” she said.

“So you have to figure it out because we have to stay in the workforce, even though it often feels like it's untenable,” she continued. “My heart obviously belongs to my children; they tug at it the most. But I really want to be able to have both.”

Chrissy Teigen had to overcome several hurdles in her parenthood journey with her husband, John Legend, including a heartbreaking pregnancy loss.

The couple welcomed their first child, Luna, in April 2016 and their son Miles in May 2018, both conceived through IVF. In 2020, Teigen became pregnant with their third child, a boy they named Jack, but suffered severe bleeding caused by a partial placental abruption. 

At around 20 weeks, doctors determined that Jack would not survive and that continuing the pregnancy posed a serious risk to Teigen. She lost him in September 2020. 

Teigen initially described the experience as a miscarriage, but in 2022 revealed that she had actually undergone a life-saving medically induced abortion, something she said she only fully understood later.

After Jack’s demise, Teigen and Legend began exploring surrogacy, initially contacting an agency in 2021 with the idea of having two surrogates carry two babies simultaneously, as she always wanted to have four kids. 

They met their surrogate, Alexandra, whom Teigen described as an exceptionally compassionate match for their family. The first embryo transferred to Alexandra did not survive, and Teigen thanked Alexandra for undergoing challenging procedures to be ready for a second attempt. 

“I will never forget how hard she fought to get ready for a second transfer, how much she gave up her own body — surgeries to get scar tissue cleared, the mental toll it takes to go through all of that for yourself, much less for other people,” Teigen wrote in an Instagram post. 

Around the same time, she restarted IVF treatment after having a change of mind during a therapy session and fell pregnant with Esti Maxine, who was born in January 2023.

Teigen was dragged at the time for putting the surrogate through the ordeal for a fourth child while pregnant herself.

“This is becoming like ordering a pizza,” one said. Another wrote, “Rich women using the bodies of other women to fulfill their fantasies.”

“They can't wait ten months at least to give the first baby all the attention they need? This is madness,” said a third. 

After Alexandra gave birth in June 2023, the couple named the baby boy Wren Alexander Stephens, with his middle name honoring the surrogate. 

Teigen later said in a People magazine interview that she planned on remaining close friends with Alexandra and wanted the surrogate to be present in Wren’s life.

“I told her at the beginning of this journey, I wanted someone who would be there for birthday parties and throughout life,” she said. “I wanted to meet her children, and I wanted my children to be friends with her children. And they really genuinely are, which has been a really beautiful thing to see.”

“I wanted her to feel like she could take off her shoes and kick up her feet on our couch. We could watch TV together, and my daughter could play with her daughter up in her room. It felt like she could come over anytime, and I feel like we do still have that relationship. It's been really wonderful.”

However, her fondness for the surrogate didn't quite melt the hearts of the netizens, who continued to call her out.

“I won’t get into my feelings around surrogacy, but if you already have multiple children and truly crave others, perhaps adopt?” one said. Another wrote, “It’s kind of reminding me of when people contact breeders for their dogs.”

The hatred was further intensified by Model and media personality Courtney Stodden’s 2021 revelation that Teigen had publicly and privately harassed them in 2011 — when they were only 16 — sending direct messages telling them to take their own lives.

Social media sleuths uncovered more disparaging tweets Teigen aimed at other celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan, Avril Lavigne, and Sarah Palin, which eventually got Teigen “canceled” for a while. 

“Mean girl and proven bully — hypocrite,” one user called her. 

In 2021, Paris Hilton started IVF treatments with her husband, Carter Reum, and her previously frozen eggs, but ultimately chose to go with surrogacy. 

The couple initially pursued two surrogate pregnancies at the same time, hoping their children would grow up almost like twins, as Chrissy Teigen's did. 

According to her 2023 memoir, one surrogate pregnancy ended in miscarriage. She wrote that the loss was particularly difficult because they had already begun imagining the family with the two babies.

The other surrogate pregnancy resulted in the birth of Phoenix Barron in January 2023. Ten months later, they welcomed their daughter, London Marilyn, via a different surrogate. 

In a December 2023 interview with Romper, the hotel heiress explained why she chose surrogacy.

“I just have so much PTSD from what I went through as a teenager,” she said. “If I’m in a doctor’s office, I get a shot, anything, I will literally have a panic attack, and I can’t breathe. I just knew that would not be healthy for the baby or me, growing inside of someone who has such high anxiety.”

She wrote in her 2023 autobiography, Paris: The Memoir, about suffering severe emotional, physical, and psychological trauma during her time at Provo Canyon School, a Utah boarding school for troubled teens where she was forcibly enrolled.

“Rich people who use women as incubators should be shunned and kept away from society,” one user reacted to Hilton’s motherhood.

“She doesn't care about women's issues unless it personally affects her own life in some way,” another said, referring to Hilton’s many acts of advocacy for women’s and children’s rights. 

A third said, “I just get the sense that she just wanted to keep her svelte figure and not go through all the pangs of pregnancy and giving birth to her own child.”

She received even more backlash for admitting in her memoir that she “felt kinda pregnant” even though the surrogates carried her children, and to make it even more realistic, she walked around in a fake belly.

“I wanted to know what it felt like to be pregnant, so I bought a prosthetic stomach and wore it around the house for the day. I know that sounds crazy, but I wanted it to feel real — even in just this small way,” she wrote. 

“My emotional baby bump was real. It was precious, and I was so completely happy to know it was exactly where it needed to be, growing warmer and bigger every day.”

“Cosplaying pregnancy. Wow,” one user wrote after finding out. Another said, “How very Handmaid's Tale of her!”

Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough had two kids with her actor husband, Ben Smith-Petersen: one in August 2022 and another in early 2025, both via surrogacy. 

In August 2023, she opened up about motherhood for the first time in an interview with Vanity Fair and revealed her first child’s name: Tupelo Storm Smith-Peterson.

The name “Tupelo” honored Keough’s grandfather, who was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. 

“It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie,” she said. “I was like, ‘This is great because it’s not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family — it’s not like Memphis or something.’”

The actress continued, “Then when the Elvis movie came out, it was like, Tupelo this and Tupelo that. I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ But it’s fine.”

Tupelo’s middle name, Storm, is an ode to Keough’s late brother, Benjamin Storm, who took his life in 2020 at age 27. 

As for surrogacy, Keough told Vanity Fair, “I think it’s a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people.”

“I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the Logan Lucky actress revealed she has Lyme disease. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Lyme disease is an illness caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and spread by blacklegged ticks. 

“Although most people recover completely when treated with a 2- to 4-week course of oral antibiotics, some can have prolonged symptoms of fatigue, body aches, or difficulty thinking,” CDC says. 

Columbia-Lyme states that approximately 5-20% of patients may have chronic symptoms after getting Lyme disease, often ones that are quite disabling.

Keough got blasted online for using surrogacy to have her kids, with a few even refusing to believe she has any health issues.

“Poor women harming their bodies so a celeb can stay skinny and get those roles. Hm, very empowering,” one said. 

“I find it weird that these celebrities supposedly don’t feel any shame for using surrogates despite also feeling the need to make excuses about it,” said another. 

A third wrote, “I find it so odd for women to get surrogates just bc they don't want to be pregnant themselves.”

In December 2025, a court filing claimed that she had donated her eggs to John Travolta and his late wife, Kelly Preston, resulting in the birth of the couple's son, Benjamin.

The filing, which emerged in a lawsuit involving Keough's grandmother, Priscilla Presley's former business associates, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, also said that the Sasquatch Sunset star took $10,000 – $20,000 and a jaguar for the donation.

In November 2022, Rebel Wilson welcomed her first child, Royce Lillian Elizabeth Wilson, via surrogacy. 

The Pitch Perfect actress announced the news in an Instagram post and thanked her “gorgeous surrogate” for the “amazing gift.”

“Surrogacy isn’t a gift. It is a transaction,” one person said in response. Another wrote, “The normalization of renting out wombs (to avoid having to repay for weight loss surgery) is so creepy.”

“All of these rich celebrities are offloading the negative aspects of pregnancy only through their financial power… it is downright wrong and creepy,” wrote a third.

However, a few argued back that Wilson had been open about her reproductive issues for a while, including suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and talked about freezing her eggs. 

In a May 2021 Instagram post, she revealed that she was struggling with infertility. 

In October, she told The Daily Telegraph that she had been going through a “fertility journey” for two years with the hope of starting a family, but it was unclear if she would be able to.

“It’s kind of an emotional roller coaster,” she described her efforts, while urging women to have kids, if they want to, before 40. 

Wilson told Today in May 2023 that her PCOS and other conditions made her reconsider carrying her baby at the age of 43.

“I was lucky to get an embryo from the [egg freezing] process because of my age and because I have polycystic ovary syndrome,” she said. “With just one embryo, I decided to go with surrogacy.”

“Physically, I could have carried the baby, but there was a much higher statistical chance it would work with a surrogate.”

She also admitted that she felt “a little disconnected” when the surrogate was carrying the baby, but from the moment she held the child, it was “amazing and so emotional.”

“The moment we see women's bodies as a commodity, we are playing the patriarchy game,” one user reacted to her admission.

In May 2026, Wilson had another daughter, Rose Estelle, carried and birthed by her wife, fashion designer Ramona Agruma.

After a lifetime of fertility battles, writer-producer Lena Dunham became a mother to a baby girl with her husband, musician Luis Felber. 

She revealed the news in a self-authored Vogue column, describing the surrogate as “present and forthright, with a mane of impressively obedient curls and the strong, sinewy form of someone who is actually good at yoga.”

Later in the essay, Dunham said that the surrogate “radiated” safety, and that it was clear “she knew how to steer an SUV in the snow.”

“Hello. I’m your mama,” Dunham recollected her first words to the baby. “You…you look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We’ve been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come.”

Soon, her critics stormed social media, with many even shaming her appearance.

“They bought a baby. F**k these people,” one said. Another wrote, “Rich people buying babies. It's gross and disgusting.”

“I thought the purpose of these celebrities using surrogates was to preserve their figure. Clearly that's not an issue here, so what's up? Was it just pure laziness?” a third said. 

A fourth said, “I don’t think it’s wrong to feel uncomfortable that someone who defends rap**ts and ab**ed their own sister has bought herself a baby.”

The comment refers to Dunham defending Murray Miller, a writer and producer on her HBO show Girls, after he was accused of r**e by actress Aurora Perrineau, and the time Dunham admitted that as a child, she acted like a "s*x*al predator” toward her younger sister. 

A few also brought up her “distasteful joke” about pregnancy termination from 2016, where she said, “Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”

Some users speculated that Dunham used an egg donor for the surrogacy, as she previously mentioned that during an IVF cycle, none of her retrieved eggs could successfully develop into embryos.

“I seriously fail to understand why can't people just opt to adopt?” one wrote. 

Before that, in 2018, she spoke at length in another Vogue column about undergoing a hysterectomy and the grief of accepting the fact that she would never bear a child, which is something she always dreamed of. 

She went through with the procedure after suffering from unbearable pain, even though no doctor could give her a definitive diagnosis. After the surgery, she was told that her uterus was indeed “worse than anyone could have imagined.”

“In addition to endometrial disease, an odd humplike protrusion, and a septum running down the middle, I have had retrograde bleeding, a.k.a. my period running in reverse, so that my stomach is full of blood,” she wrote.

“The children who could have been mine do break my heart, and I walk with them, with the lost possibility, a somber and wobbly walk as I regain my center.”

Ellen Pompeo and her husband, Chris Ivery, welcomed their first daughter, Stella Luna, on September 15, 2009. Pompeo carried the pregnancy herself, and the couple kept their family life very private.

In October 2014, she surprised fans by revealing that she and Ivery had become parents to another daughter, Sienna May, who was born two months earlier via surrogacy.

“This baby was born via surrogate, so I felt an obligation to keep the surrogate's privacy. That was of utmost importance to me,” she said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! hours after the announcement. 

“This is an incredible thing to do with your life, to give the gift of carrying someone's child, so I am forever grateful and feel very blessed and grateful to her — she who will remain anonymous,” Pompeo said about the surrogate. 

The Grey’s Anatomy actress further revealed that her husband donated seminal fluid and she donated eggs before the procedure.

“I was there with her when they inseminated her, and we held hands. I looked into the microscope, and I saw the embryo. I saw the baby, and they put it in a thingy, and they inseminated her. Then we held hands and prayed. We talked to God and asked if she was meant to be. He said he was going to try to help us out, and now we have a gorgeous baby girl.”

Many did not like her explanation or the use of the word “insemination,” given that her own eggs were used for the fertilization. 

“Something about her casual attitude seems to reinforce the popular misconceptions that fertility treatment is simply a convenience for super-rich people,” one person said.

“Just goes to show how little she learned about the process. I guess when you have enough money, you don't have to really take part,” said another.

A third commented, “If you're going to talk on a national platform about IVF, it would be nice if you used the correct terms.”

Pompeo and Ivery later welcomed their third child, son Eli Christopher, in December 2016. The couple has not made the nature of his birth public.