The older celeb mums who peddle false hope
Women who plan to leave motherhood until later in life will doubtless take heart at the news that Janet Jackson, 50 this month, is expecting her first child.
After all, isn’t she living proof that we can leave starting a family until we’re well-advanced in our life and careers?
The youngest child of the Jackson family, Janet recorded her first album at 15 and has sold 160 million records, scooping five Grammys and nine mTV awards. She is happily married (for the third time) to Qatari billionaire Wissam Al mana.
All that was missing was a much longed for child. And now that dream is coming true just in time for her 50th birthday. What Janet hasn’t revealed is quite how she managed to get pregnant, but at her age it would truly be a miracle if it did not involve some form of intensive fertility treatment.
For the painful facts are that a woman’s fertility starts to decline from the age of 35. By 40, the chances of getting pregnant naturally with a first child are less than 5per cent — unless you’re taking fertility drugs.
each year that figure declines exponentially, so much so that by 45 it is just 1per cent, even with the help of IVF.
no doubt when the baby arrives, Janet will parade her happiness across the pages of every glossy magazine in the world.
But don’t older celebrity mums like her just peddle false hope to career women who believe they, too, can put motherhood on ice?
Halle Berry was 41 when she had her first child, as were Kim Basinger and Brooke Shields. Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs was 44. Lucky them. But I fear their example leads ordinary women to believe that they can delay motherhood indefinitely — and that what nature denies, science can solve.
The cruel reality is that in most cases it can’t. At least, not without years of heartbreak, disappointment and money poured into endless cycles of IVF.
For every joyful older mother like Janet, there are thousands more left confronting the sad realisation that they will never become mothers at all.