Idina Menzel has opened about her experience with in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and how she realised that she “wasn’t meant” to have a second child.
The 51-year-old singer recalled how she underwent IVF while on tour during a recent interview with People to discuss the release of her upcoming Disney + documentary, Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?
Menzel, who shares her 13-year-old son, Walker, with ex-husband Taye Diggs, noted that when she got remarried to Aaron Lohr, she didn’t initially plan on having more children. However, she still thought about the kind of father that her spouse could be.
“Maybe before meeting me, [Lohr] didn’t think he wanted to have kids, and then he sees how good of a dad he can be,” she said. “So I wanted that for him. I didn’t think I wanted to have a baby but then Aaron has been the most amazing man to my son.”
She noted that as it’s been four years since she did IVF, she and Lohr “have moved beyond that” and are content with co-parenting Walker together.
“I have this amazing son and I was fortunate enough to have him,” she said. “And the pregnancy was pretty easy and I conceived easily, and there’s a lot of people that don’t even get to have that.”
The “Let It Go” singer also acknowledged that while she wasn’t able to conceive through IVF, Lohr “feels really loved that [she] even tried and put [her] body through that”.
Menzel went on to reveal the biggest life lesson that she’s gained through the treatments.
“I think going through all that, you’re so exhausted by it that finally, it becomes apparent like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore and it just wasn’t meant to be,’ and you’re resolved in that,” she continued.
She once again praised Lohr’s relationship with her teenage son, adding: “He sees Walker as his own kid at this point anyway. I think we feel content and lucky with what we have.”
During her documentary, which will be released on Disney + on 9 December, Menzel could be seen at her doctor’s appointments and speaking candidly about the IVF treatments.
“I’m literally going through stuff that I’m shooting into my body and I don’t know how that’s going to affect my voice,” she said in the documentary, via People. “And it may force me to make extra trips to get back and forth to the doctor in addition to making trips to get home to my family. And all of that isn’t great on your body when you’re trying to have a baby.”
Speaking to the publication, she acknowledged that her decision to document the “emotional” and “physical” aspects of her IVF journey wasn’t based on if she got pregnant or not.
“No matter what the outcome, I just wanted women to feel seen in this film and people to understand what we go through,” the Enchanted star said. “It was important to me to forgo the privacy of that and allow people to have a little window into that experience.”
