Award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie has explained why she chose to make the surrogacy of her twin boys public.
The author of “Purple Hibiscus” revealed in February that she and her spouse had used surrogacy to become parents to twins in April 2024.
The practice of a woman carrying and delivering a child for intended parents is known as surrogacy.
Chimamanda revealed in a recent interview on the WithChude Live event that she decided to talk candidly about her experience in order to dispel the stigma associated with infertility issues.
The 47-year-old emphasised the unnecessary shame women face over fertility issues, from fibroids to difficulties conceiving, stating, “I just think it’s too much of a burden for women… and I don’t believe in that sort of shame”.
“I felt that there were many women who would then be pressured by people saying ‘look Chimamanda is 47 and she had kids at that age, what about you?’” she said.
“And just in general, I think there is so much shame around issues of fertility, that I just think it’s too much of a burden for women. Women are ashamed when they have fibroids, women are ashamed when they have issues getting pregnant, and I don’t believe in that sort of shame.”
The writer also admitted that discussing her children’s birth process was difficult because she wanted to protect them from public scrutiny.
“My boys are so precious to me and I hated that anything about them would become politicised, so on the one hand I thought ‘I wish I hadn’t talked about it’, but on the other hand there is no way I am going to lie about the process of birthing them,” she added.
“I am hoping that if anything good comes out of this, it would be that more women are less ashamed of talking about reaching motherhood through non-traditional means.
“Because our society is so judgemental, and I do not think that that is good for anybody. But, you know, my daughter and my babies are the greatest gift I have been given, so zero regrets.”
