Why Did Paris Hilton Use a Surrogate to Have Her and Carter Reum’s Baby?
Paris Hilton and her husband, Carter Reum, joyfully welcomed their son, Phoenix Barron, this past January. The news shocked fans because Hilton had kept the pregnancy under wraps. The hotel heiress said she didn’t even tell her mother, Kathy Hilton, and the rest of the family until a week after the baby’s birth. But because the Simple Life star had used a surrogate, hiding that she and Reum were expecting a child was easy.
The birth of Paris Hilton and Carter Reum’s son Phoenix surprised nearly everyone
The socialite’s life has been public for many years, but her husband “has always been a really private person,” she revealed in her This Is Paris podcast.
When it came to having a baby, Hilton and Reum didn’t want to draw attention, so they kept the pregnancy via surrogate private, even from her family.
“Not even my mom, my sisters, my best friend knew until he was over a week old,” Paris said of baby Phoenix on This Is Paris. “It was really nice to have that with Carter, be our own journey together. I just feel like my life has been so public, and I’ve never really had anything be just mine.”
Why did Paris Hilton use a surrogate?
The entrepreneur recently told Glamour that she asked her friend Kim Kardashian for advice on having her eggs frozen.
“I went and did the one round of IVF because Kim had told me about it. So I had eggs frozen,” Hilton said.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the couple had 20 embryos frozen.
“Carter and I had already been talking about the future, and then the world was shut down, so I was like, ‘What do you think about us making embryos?’” she explained. “And he said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ And we’ve done it seven times … I have all boys. I have 20 boys.”
Asked why she chose to use a surrogate, Paris replied, “I’m just so scared, I think, again, leading back to Provo [Canyon treatment center] of even being in a doctor’s office, just all of that. The shots, the IVs that they put in [she claims they used to regularly take samples of her blood].”
She added, “When I was in The Simple Life, I had to be in a room when a woman was giving birth, and that traumatized me as well. But I want a family so bad — it’s just the physical part of doing it. I’m just so scared … childbirth and death are the two things that scare me more than anything in the world.”
Paris would also love to have a daughter. She told Glamour, “I just went through the process again a month ago, so I’m waiting for the results to see if there’s any girls.”
Many celebrities have used surrogates
Years ago, having a child via a surrogate was not an option. Fortunately for many hopeful parents, it’s becoming more common.
Bravo’s Andy Cohen has two children born via surrogate. He announced on his Instagram, “Thank you to my rock star surrogate (ALL surrogates are rockstars, by the way) and everyone who helped make this miracle happen. I’m so happy.”
Cohen’s friend Anderson Cooper has two sons, also born through a surrogate.
This past January, Priyanka Chopra Jonas spoke with British Vogue about the birth of her and her husband Nick Jonas’ daughter via surrogate in 2022. The actor said surrogacy became “a necessary step” due to “medical complications.”
“I’m so grateful I was in a position where I could do this,” Chopra Jonas said. “Our surrogate was so generous, kind, lovely, and funny, and she took care of this precious gift for us for six months.”
In addition, sisters Kim and Khloé Kardashian used surrogates. Kim turned to surrogacy after her first two pregnancies because of a life-threatening condition. She encouraged her sister to do the same when Khloé faced challenges while trying to conceive after her first child.
