Chrissy Teigen Talked About Challenging the Stigma Around Infertility

• Chrissy Teigen spoke about the stigma attached to infertility in a new interview.
• "I've been open about so much throughout my life, and so [infertility] didn't seem like a crazy thing to talk about. But the more I spoke about it, the more I realized how taboo it was," Teigen said.
• "I was getting DMs and letters—like handwritten letters—and emails," she added. "I realized people don't feel comfortable talking about this."

In a new interview with Refinery29, Chrissy Teigen discussed her desire to challenge the prevailing stigma around infertility. "I've been open about so much throughout my life, and so [infertility] didn't seem like a crazy thing to talk about. But the more I spoke about it, the more I realized how taboo it was," she said.

"I was getting DMs and letters—like handwritten letters—and emails," Teigen added. "I realized that people didn't think they could talk about it on an open forum, but they were happy to do it privately. I realized people don't feel comfortable talking about this."

Teigen, who is launching new campaign Fertility Out Loud in partnership with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and Ferring Pharmaceuticals, reflected on conceiving children Luna and Miles with husband John Legend through IVF—and how uninformed she felt about the process, a result of the lack of conversation about infertility treatments. "I genuinely thought that I would tell them when my period would be and we would go harvest eggs and just scrape them from my body and that would be it," she said. "But the process of leading up to it, getting your body ready for it, it can be brutal."

She also shared one of the most joyous moments of her fertility treatment: the embryo transfer that gave her and Legend their first child, Luna. "When they inserted her little egg, it just shot across like a little shooting star," Teigen recalled. "Seeing it, and then praying that it would stick and stay, and sure enough, she did. And now she's about to be five years old."

Teigen spoke about her desire to expand her family with Legend, explaining, "My mind is open to any way there is about having that child. I'm honestly not sure if I would ever stop having children." She continued, "They just bring light and life to our household and to the world. I love being a mom and I can't imagine ever saying, 'Well, I'm done, I'm good on kids.' John will probably have to be the one to pipe up and say that. But my IVF journey has not ended at all."

"There's no one way to [become a parent] and there's no straight road at all," Teigen said. "I've seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows with it. I encourage anyone to be open and honest as they’d like to be. And they’ll get the same from me."