Ask the Answer B!tch
She's here to help
Why Do So Many Celebs Give Birth to Twins?
SS/Flynet
Another day, another set of Hollywood twins are born. Is it just IVF, or is Hollywood an incredibly fertile place?
—Molly, Belmont, N.C.
The answer isn't simple. Yes, the celebrities sure are spawning; now it's Ugly Betty's Rebecca Romijn and husband Jerry O'Connell, who join Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Marcia Cross, Geena Davis and scads of others in producing a twofer.
It's only fair that gossip over fertility treatments would follow; all of those women were over 35—old biddies in this business—when they had the twins, including Romijn. (Twin-machine Angelina Jolie isn't quite up there yet, agewise.)
So, have they or haven't they gotten help in getting pregnant? Well...
According to doctors interviewed by this B!tch, at least some Hollywood twinnage probably got a boost from science. After all, a quarter of all women over 30 have reported some sort of trouble making a kid. By age 40, that number leaps to 50 percent. And fertility problems, natch, tend to lead to fertility treatments, if not adoption or just plain giving up.
And here's more: Multiple births occur naturally about 3 to 5 percent of the time, compared with a whopping 25 percent after fertility treatments.
But here's where it gets tricky: It is, technically, still possible to produce twins without any help at all, right up until menopause. There is also an increased chance of having twins naturally as you get older.
Finally, asking new moms about this stuff is, apparently, mean. So we're stuck with official quotes, rumors or nothing at all.
Cross, for example, was quoted in People magazine as saying that, yes, she did undergo fertility treatments. Roberts has been more ambiguous. And Lopez has said—also to People, the official magazine of star babies—that she conceived Max and Emme naturally.
Got a question about Hollywood? ASK IT: answerbitch@eonline.com
![Sean "Diddy" Combs](http://images.eonline.com/resize/66/66/0-0-293-293/eol_images/The_Big_Picture/20080530/293.combs.sean.053008.jpg "Sean "Diddy" Combs")
Podcasts
How Much Did the Michael Jackson Memorial Cost?
- How many millions did L.A. taxpayers spend on that Staples Center party, er, distinguished event? Could any other celeb deaths top this? Plus, plenty more in another all-M.J. A.B.!
Why's Everybody Being so Mean to Michael Jackson?
- It's pretty much all MJ in our weekly episode!
How Much Hired Help Does Kate Gosselin Have?
- Did Chris Brown get off 'cause he's famous? Do stars steal stuff? Why does John Mayer do so many covers? All this and sooo much more in our weekly episode!
Speidi Can't Sue & Palin Can't Shut Up
- Is Sarah Palin what's ailin' Conan? Can Speidi sue over jungle fever? Why do music stars play so many cover songs? All this and champagne too in our weekly episode!
39 Comments
-
Show the next 1 - 0 of 39 comments
Now loading...