Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is getting candid about her IVF (in vitro fertilization) journey and the costs that came along with it.
“I only did eight cycles of IVF, but that doesn’t include the amount of IUIs I did and every other kind of imaginable treatments that you could imagine for fertility,” Bailon-Houghton, 40, told People in an interview published on Saturday, April 20. “So it was a pretty tough six years of trying to have my son.”
When asked how much her estimated costs for the fertility treatments were, the actress revealed that she and husband Israel Houghton spent “easily over a million” dollars, adding, “And that is not realistic for the average person. And I recognize that.” (The longtime couple welcomed their son, Ever James, 20 months, via surrogate in August 2022.)
This isn’t the first time the Cheetah Girls star has been open about her fertility journey over the years.
“I think that as an audience we should be sensitive to the fact that everybody doesn’t get pregnant right away,” she said during a 2018 episode of The Real, on which she served as a co-host from 2013 to 2022. “I think for myself I thought it would happen so easily for me and it just hasn’t happened that way.”
While speaking to Us Weekly in January, Bailon-Houghton opened up about how motherhood changed her life.
“[It] completely shifted my perspective on life, how I spend my time [and] what I spend my time doing,” she exclusively told Us. “I’m loving the time that I’m getting to spend at home with my son and get to do these incredible shows that we film and then we come home and we get to watch them as a family. But again, I think the key is family time.”
The I Can See Your Voice panelist also told Us about the celebrity playdate she dreams about, hoping that once Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker‘s son Rocky is old enough, they can get their kids together. (Kardashian, 45, and Barker, 48, welcomed Rocky in November 2023.)
“Yes, we’re waiting for it,” she said. “We’re definitely going to make it happen.”
Prior to tying the knot with Houghton, 52, in November 2016, Bailon-Houghton famously dated Kourtney’s brother, Rob Kardashian. Although the former couple ended things in 2009 after two years of dating, Bailon-Houghton has remained close to his famous sisters.
She continued, “I love those girls and I think that they’re amazing. They’re girls’ girls. They’re always there to lift you up and be like, ‘You’ve got this. You look amazing,’ give a compliment and it’s awesome.”