Like many women, Tyra Banks put off pregnancy in her busy, more fertile, earlier reproductive years
More and more celebrities and high-profile people are going public with their infertility trials and tribulations. Recently, Tyra Banks opened up about her fertility struggle. The 41-year-old actress, supermodel, author, singer and television personality discussed briefly in an interview in People magazine that she is having a difficult time going through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
We are very proud of her for going public while in the middle of her journey. Most of the stars wait to go public with their fertility issues after they have had a baby. And since not all are successful, many stars never reveal their struggles with infertility.
It would be wonderful if more role models like Tyra Banks did open up. When famous and admired people talk about their fertility struggles, other women with the same issues feel that they are not alone and are more likely to take action themselves. Many women face pressure not to talk about their infertility, much less seek treatment that can solve their problem.
That’s why Tyra’s recent example is so helpful. She says she made the classic choice that led to age-related infertility. She had a hugely successful career and kept saying to herself every year beginning in her early 20s, “I’ll do this in three years.” When she reached that age, she would say again, “I’ll do this in three years.” And when she turned 40, “The one thing I was not happy about in my life was that I did not have kids.”
The age & eggs fertility problem
Tyra Banks is like many other women who put off having a family in the years when they are most fertile. They have to play catch up later in life when their career, family situation or other determining factors are such that they are ready to have children.
As a woman ages, her fertility declines due to changes in her ovaries. It doesn’t matter how fit she is or how good her diet is – and women are healthier today than ever before – because that has no bearing on the number of viable eggs that remain in her ovaries.
A woman is born with a finite number of follicles containing eggs, about a million. By the time a woman reaches puberty, she’ll have around 300,000 eggs, and will ovulate only about 300 of those during her reproductive years. Aging causes atresia, the degradation in the number and quality of a woman’s eggs.
A woman’s 20s are her most fertile years. By age 30 a woman has a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant during each menstrual cycle in which she is trying to get pregnant. At age 40, she has a 5 percent chance each month.
As Tyra Banks has discovered, putting off having children can be a choice that has a huge downside. It is definitely harder later on to become a mother, and she says she wants a whole litter of children. Not only does she want children, her fans want her to have children.
“I’m so tired of seeing on my social media, Why don’t you have kids? Why don’t you have kids? You don’t know what I’m going through, you have no idea,” Tyra said on the FabLife show (you can watch that video below).
At age 41 her prognosis is pretty good if she is persistent. We hope she makes it. Regarding IVF she says, “It is really difficult. I have had some not-so-happy, traumatic moments.”
We are cheering for you Tyra Banks. Keep going.
