Katie Lee’s infertility struggles recently came out in the open after the celebrity chef got weary of the unnecessary scrutiny around her pregnancy and decided to talk about it through social media.
In a lengthy Instagram post, the Food Network star opened up about her infertility issues, mentioning how the intrusion of her fans and the people around her is taking a toll on her.
“I get multiple messages a day asking me if I’m pregnant or why I am not pregnant yet, I get comments saying I look like I’ve gained weight, so I must be pregnant,” she wrote. “After one said that I looked ‘thick in the waist’ I finally responded that it’s not ok to comment on a woman’s body and you never know what someone is going through.”
Hurtful intrusion on the way to starting a family
There’s a fine line between being concerned and hurtful, when asking personal questions, and Lee was extremely disturbed on being constantly asked about her plans of having a family. When people comment on her body weight, she clarified how they do not know the back story and their assumptions can get offensive.
She was previously married to Billy Joel with whom she split after six years in 2010. She married TV producer Ryan Biegel in 2018 and said that both of them intended to start a family immediately after marriage. They had never considered the difficulties and complexities involved in the process.
Healthy doesn’t mean fertile
So many healthy, young women are unable to conceive when they want to, but most people don’t understand that this can affect anyone.
Although certain health factors matter, there is no guarantee that you will not be affected just because you are healthy. 37-year-old Lee and her husband lead healthy lifestyles and assumed that their pregnancy would go without a hitch.
“I naively thought it would be easy,” she said. “I’m a healthy woman, I eat a balanced diet, exercise, I don’t smoke. Ryan is the same. But reproductive health is an entirely different ballgame.”
While they decided that they will continue to try conceiving the natural way, she ended up needing surgery to rectify a certain problem which led her to contract a serious infection and shingles.
Failed embryo cycle
After she suffered a mild blow to her health due to the infection, her doctor suggested IVF. In-vitro fertilization is an artificial reproductive technique where your eggs are fertilized by the sperm under controlled conditions in a lab. Following this, the best quality embryo is then transferred into your uterus.
Unfortunately for Katie, her IVF cycle resulted in no healthy embryos. She wrote, “We just finished the intense process only to get zero healthy embryos. Not only is IVF physically exhausting, but the emotional toll is also unparalleled. We were filled with hope and excitement only to be crushed.”
IVF involves a lot of preparation including hormonal suppression and ovarian stimulation, which may cause mental, physical, and psychological distress among other side effects.
She spoke about her weight gain caused due to the hormonal therapy. Lee says it is extremely invasive and upsetting when people find it acceptable to ask her if she is pregnant because of her weight gain. IVF drugs can not only cause weight gain but also cause weakness that make it difficult for the patient to exercise.
“When people ask me when I’m getting pregnant, it hurts. It’s just a reminder that I’m not. When they say I look like I’ve gained weight, I have. I can’t exercise as much and the hormones have made me bloated.”
Opening up about infertility issues
Infertility is personal and it is not easy to talk about, especially when you are followed by people around the world. That is what Katie Lee faced as she poured out her whole story for the world to see.
However, she got the inspiration to share her story by other people who opened up about their fertility problems.
“Fertility issues are supposed to be private so many of us are silently in pain. I hesitated to share this but I feel comfort when I hear others’ stories and I hope any of you in a similar situation know you are not alone,” Lee wrote.
Many celebrities including Rosanna Scotto and Dina Manzo showed their support through earnest comments on her post.
She explained every aspect of her struggle and ended her Instagram post with an optimistic view for her fans in similar situation. She said they if they keep trying without losing hope, they will get their happy ending and new beginnings. “I hesitated to share this but I feel comfort when I hear others’ stories and I hope any of you in a similar situation know you are not alone,” she says.
She spoke about how she will not lose faith as she described a story that keeps her going: A priest on Easter talked about a family that had once struggled with infertility, but have now been blessed with a baby. : He said it is a time of new beginnings,” she recalled. “Tears streamed down my face.”
Closing her post, she wrote “I know a family will happen for us, it is just going to be a different journey than we imagined, we will keep working towards it. Someday we will have our happy new beginning and I pray any of you experiencing the same will have yours too.”