Adrienne Bailon-Houghton opens up about how she kept her surrogacy a secret.
Bailon recently welcomed a baby boy via surrogacy with her husband, Isreal Houghton. The actress has previously been candid about her struggles with trying to conceive on her own. So when she received the news that her privately hired surrogate was pregnant, she decided to share the announcement in a different way.
“Honestly, everyone was shocked,” Bailon said to PEOPLE magazine. “Even my sister, who watched The Real throughout the whole last season, literally said to me, ‘Adrienne, I am impressed.’ She’s like, ‘I am so proud of you. You are really holding this.’ I did that because it was really sacred to me.”
After eight failed in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles and a miscarriage, Bailon says the process was taking a toll on her mental health. So, for this go around, Bailon said not sharing the news helped her maintain her peace.
“It was important to me for my own mental wellbeing and for my family,” she added. “I was just like, ‘I’m just not going to say anything.’ It was actually very peaceful that way. You didn’t have other people’s opinions.”
Earlier this month, the couple’s son announced that their son, Ever Houghton, was born. The two got the name from their wedding hashtag, #happilyeverhaughton. Ever was born during a home birth in an Airbnb in Lake Tahoe, California.
“The birthing experience was incredible,” Bailon says. “We had multiple doulas. I had a doula for me. She had a doula for her that looked after her for aftercare. Same for me, someone that was there for me emotionally, anything that I needed physically. It was a family affair and absolutely beautiful.”
Bailon says she is “not giving up” on her dreams of conceiving a child of her own.
“That’s the ultimate dream for me. I’m not giving up on that dream. Maybe I will carry one day, and I can’t wait for that. I’m still hoping for that.”
