Monty Brinton/CBSNow that openly gay Neil Patrick Harris is having twins through a surrogate, I'm wondering: What about all the closeted gay actors out there? How many of them might have secret surrogate babies with their secret partners?
—Secret Lover, via the A.B. inbox
Well, there's Toothy Tile, right, Ted Casablanca? Apparently Toothy—that's the pseudonym for a particular Hollywood leading man who keeps his homosexuality very quiet—has a secret surrogate baby to go with his down-low boyfriend.
Adorable, right? Anyway, if you're wondering whether clandestine gay Hollywood is commissioning black-ops babies left and right, the answer is:
No.
Kathryn Kaycoff-Manos, president co-director of Agency For Surrogacy Solutions, Inc. in Los Angeles, says that pretty much never happens with her. Gay couples have increasingly turned to surrogates for starting their own families, and maybe there are a few who aren't quite all the way out.
But in Hollywood, not so much.
Casablanca says that isn't surprising.
"Most are much more interested in covering up their homosexuality, not procreating," Ted tells me in a rare cameo appearance in this column. "Most gay couples don't make it long enough to even want to do this. That's why what Neil Patrick Harris is doing is a watershed moment."
Want some additional details on what might be going down in the Neil Patrick Harris home nursery? Sure you do!
Officially, Harris and his partner aren't saying which of them is the biological father of their yet-to-be-born twins. However, according to Kaycoff-Manos, there's a good chance the answer isn't an either-or.
Instead, Kaycoff-Manos tells me, it's pretty common for gay male couples to each fertilize some eggs, and then, if more than one takes, implant one or some of each. In other words, don't be surprised if one of the twins turns out to be a mini-NPH, and the other a mini-NPH-partner. (The twins are a boy and a girl, so we know they're fraternal, as in, they did not result from a single fertilized egg that split.)
Lastly, Kaycoff-Manos tells me, it's typical, in these types of situations, for the couple to know who the surrogate is, but not the egg donor.
"We haven't had any of our high-profile clients ask for a totally anonymous surrogate," she says.
So, when the threesome agrees to appear on the cover of People, along with the twins they made, don't be surprised.