Last week, Lily Collins – daughter of musician Phil Collins – announced she’d secretly welcomed her first child with husband of four-and-a-half years Charlie McDowell, son of legendary actors Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen. But what should have been happy news has been marred by a backlash about the couple using a surrogate to carry the baby for them.
Lily, 35, revealed all in a sweet post that read, ‘Welcome to the centre of our world, Tove Jane McDowell. Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way.’ While the post quickly garnered plenty of well wishes, it also received a slew of negative comments.
Her husband Charlie, 41, hit back at the abuse, commenting, ‘In regard to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby— it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy.
'It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child… it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regard to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives.’
As she documented in her autobiography Unfiltered, Lily suffered from disordered eating well into her 20s, which can affect fertility. In 2017, when the Emily In Paris star was asked how she decided to seek help for her eating disorder, she said her desire to become a mother played a huge role. She revealed, 'Everyone has a different form of recovery. My reason to finally start talking about it was the moment I realised I wanted a family.’
Celebrities are increasingly turning to surrogacy to help them build their families, with Sarah Jessica Parker, Nicole Kidman, Elton John, Kim Kardashian and, more recently, Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell among them. Most stars keep their surrogacy arrangements under wraps, with iron-clad NDAs ensuring the birth mothers – who are usually not carrying their own genetic child – are sworn to secrecy. Surrogates are paid around $50K and those carrying celebrity babies are not paid any more than their agency’s standard fee, although perks including lavish gifts are allowed.
