Katie Lee Instagram Post About Infertility
Katie Lee's Candid Post About Her Struggles With Infertility Should Be Required Reading
Let's get this out of the way: it's never OK to assume a woman is pregnant or to comment on her body. Katie Lee gracefully illustrated that message in a powerful Instagram caption about her personal experiences with others' invasive comments and her little-known struggles with infertility. As a TV personality and public figure, Katie is unfortunately subject to unwelcome comments about her weight, and she even gets "multiple messages a day" asking if she's pregnant — or why she's not yet. What people wouldn't assume is that Katie has been trying to get pregnant since she married her husband Ryan Biegel last year, and she went through an exhausting IVF process that sadly did not work.
The Food Network host wrote, "I get comments saying I look like I've gained weight, so I must be pregnant. After one said that I looked 'thick in the waist' I finally responded that it's not OK to comment on a woman's body and you never know what someone is going through. There is so much pressure on women to look a certain way and while most mean well with baby questions, it can be hurtful."
"When Ryan and I got married, our plan was to start a family right away. I couldn't wait to get pregnant! I naively thought it would be easy. I'm a healthy woman, I eat a balanced diet, exercise, I don't smoke. Ryan is the same. But reproductive health is an entirely different ballgame. We were trying, I had to have surgery to correct a problem, got an infection, then I was so run down I got shingles. My doctor advised us to try IVF. We just finished the intense process only to get zero healthy embryos. Not only is IVF physically exhausting, the emotional toll is unparalleled. We were filled with hope and excitement only to be crushed."
She continued, "It is really hard to put on a happy face. Fertility issues are supposed to be private so many of us are silently in pain. I hesitated to share this but I feel comfort when I hear others' stories and I hope any of you in a similar situation know you are not alone. When people ask me when I'm getting pregnant, it hurts. It's just a reminder that I'm not. When they say I look like I've gained weight, I have. I can't exercise as much and the hormones have made me bloated."
Let Katie's candid post serve as a reminder to everyone that you never know what a woman is going through. Read the full caption on Katie's Instagram.
