Aisha Tyler Opens Up About Infertility Struggle on The Talk: Why She Stopped IVF Treatments

Talk show host reveals she can't get pregnant but says she's open to adoption down the road

The women of The Talk have been sharing their most closely guarded secrets all week, and on Tuesday, Sept. 10, co-host Aisha Tyler emotionally opened up about her infertility issues. Married to attorney Jeff Tietjens since 1992, the 42-year-old California native began undergoing in vitro fertilization treatments two years ago. "I'm old," she said. "In baby years, that's old to be trying to get pregnant."

Tyler went off birth control but "nothing was really happening," so they decided to see a specialist. It was then that she learned she has a tortuous fallopian tube, which makes it difficult for the sperm to get to the egg.

"We went through the process," Tyler told the panel. "There are all these shots, they make your body crazy, they make you emotional, they hurt…I was getting shots every day. I wasn't telling you guys—my husband and I were going through this at home together. He hated giving me the shots. He probably cried more than I did."

After undergoing multiple expensive procedures, a doctor told Tyler, "‘Look, based on what we're seeing here, I just don't think this is going to happen for you.'"

Tearing up, Tyler explained that "the hardest part is I really love my husband—he's such a good person and he would be such a great father, you know? It would be so great to see a little him running around."

Instead of undergoing further treatments, she explained, "We just decided it wasn't worth it to go through that and so we decided to stop. It was better to not go through that torture."

Tyler added, "I married my husband because I loved him and I don't feel like there's anybody missing from our marriage, but when you think about this person that you love, and you think about what a wonderful thing it would be to bring another person like that into this world, I think that's the hardest part about all of it."

Neither Tyler nor Tietjens have given up on their dream of raising a child—though they plan to wait a bit before exploring other options. As Tyler told Sara Gilbert, "I love the idea of adoption, but I feel like this is such a fresh wound that I want to let it heal for a while before I think about what we could do next."