London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Naomi Campbell’s motherhood is good news, but most women don’t have her reproductive choices

Naomi Campbell’s motherhood is good news, but most women don’t have her reproductive choices

While we don’t know the details about Campbell’s situation, we do know that for most older women, options are limited, says women’s health lecturer Zeynep Gurtin
Earlier this week, supermodel Naomi Campbell created a social media storm by posting a picture of her hand cradling a small baby’s feet with the caption: “A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother.”

While thousands congratulated Campbell, 50, on her newfound motherhood, many others raised critical voices, commenting on her age. Since the post doesn’t provide any details regarding whether Campbell gave birth, adopted the baby, or commissioned a surrogate’s services, there was also widespread speculation about how the baby was conceived, carried and delivered.

Quite aside from the particular choices that Campbell might have made, this case raises important questions about the range of reproductive options available to older women, fertility education and whether celebrities owe a degree of transparency to their followers, in particular regarding such potentially private and sensitive life decisions.

Prof Joyce Harper, reproductive scientist and author of the book Your Fertile Years: What You Need to Know to Make Informed Choices, warns that: “Celebrity pregnancies at advanced ages give women false hope about what is actually possible. The reality is that it is very, very unlikely for a woman to naturally become pregnant at 50. And, what’s more, it is equally unlikely that she can do so using IVF.” Harper says that while increasing numbers of women are becoming aware that their fertility begins to decline from the age of 30 onwards, many still assume that assisted reproductive technologies can provide a miracle solution to help them conceive if they have fertility problems, whatever their age. This, she points out, is simply not the case.

The latest data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) provide strong support for Harper’s point. While the average birthrates via IVF in the UK were 23% per embryo transferred in 2018 – a figure that is already considerably lower than many would imagine – the chances decreased as women became older. For instance, while women under the age of 35 had a 31% chance of live birth, the chances for those aged between 40 and 42 dropped by almost two thirds, to 11%. More strikingly, the chances for women over 43 have remained consistently below 5% – meaning that for this age group, only one IVF cycle out of 20 ends with a “take-home baby”.

IVF, of course, is not the only option available. Older women can significantly increase their chances of pregnancy – to over 25% – by using donor eggs (usually from much younger donors), although this remains a less favoured option, with most women hoping to have their own genetic children. Consequently, over the last 10 years, more and more women have opted to freeze their eggs in order to “preserve their fertility”, and to give themselves a higher likelihood of achieving motherhood later in life, in effect donating their own younger eggs to their older selves. Surrogacy – with or without the use of donor eggs – can also provide a route to motherhood, particularly for women unable to carry pregnancies for a range of reasons. But it is important to note that none of these options come with a guarantee, and none of them come cheap. In the UK, egg freezing costs between £4,000 and £7,000, egg donation up to £10,000, and surrogacy typically between £10,000 and £15,000, making these technologies financially inaccessible for most women. Adoption, too, is often a costly and lengthy process – and, according to the charity Family Lives, most of the 6,000 children in the UK seeking adoption are of school age, making it harder for those individuals hoping to adopt babies.

The key question here, of course, is not what Naomi Campbell has done, or whether she will ever reveal the intimate details of her life decisions. Rather, it is why women and men in general seem to have such inaccurate ideas and expectations about fertility and reproduction that the news of older celebrity mothers – including, in recent years, Janet Jackson, who had her first child at 50, and Brigitte Nielsen, who had her fifth at 54 – can easily mislead them about their own options. It seems that in an age of proliferating reproductive choices, fertility education remains woefully insufficient.

This, Harper points out, is the main reason why she co-founded the Fertility Education Initiative in 2016, to help spread accurate information to young people, adults, teachers and health professionals about fertility and reproductive health, as well as the limitations of technologies like IVF, so that people can have realistic expectations and don’t find themselves “running out of options”. Harper, who speaks frankly about her own fertility struggles and her lengthy journey to have her three sons – the first just a few weeks before her 40th birthday, followed by twins conceived after frozen embryo transfer – says she was lucky, but knows that many others are not.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 18% of women born in 1974 will reach the end of their reproductive years without children. While many of these women may be actively choosing childfree lives for a variety of reasons, that’s not the whole story. There is also an increase in involuntary childlessness due to age-related loss of fertility, one of the consequences of a demographic trend for delaying motherhood. “As experts speaking up about age-related fertility decline, we are not trying to spread doom and gloom,” Harper says, “but we hope that providing this information can help people make the right choices for themselves at the right time, and avoid women suffering heartbreak because they are surprised to find themselves childless and infertile in their 40s.”

Naomi Campbell’s news – like the happy announcement of every other new mother – deserves nothing but congratulations. But it should not be confused with what is possible for the majority of people. Although Campbell told ES magazine in 2017, “I think about having children all the time. But now with the way science is I think I can do it when I want,” that is simply not a realistic option for most women.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×