Brigitte Nielsen gave birth to her fifth child in June this year, at age 54. The actress had undergone IVF treatment for over ten years in the hope of getting pregnant. The decision to have a baby at this advanced age has been condemned by many who say she’s too old to be a mommy.
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Nielsen defends her decision to bear a child later in life, saying that men are never put down for becoming parents at an older age, not even when they’re over 60 or 70.
“Some women think, ‘Oh my God, I’m too old.’ Well, yeah, I can understand people saying, ‘How dare she?”, Nielsen told People magazine.
“But how many men have their first kids in their 60s and 70s and they never doubt it? Do I understand that [people] are a bit skeptical? Yes, I understand.”
“I also totally respect the fact that not everybody likes it and agrees with it, but it is my life.”
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The Danish actress and model froze her eggs at 40 when she and her husband Mattia Dessi first started to think about a future together, adding that in vitro fertilization is a long and tough process.
“There is a huge disappointment. If you do IVF, 80 percent of the time, it doesn’t work. It’s that phone call going, ‘It’s negative.’ It’s the waiting. It’s a lot. It’s a big, big journey. Another thing is it is expensive. It doesn’t come easy or cheap if you do it my way. I want people to know that.”
Nielsen has four more children: Julian, 34, with first husband Kasper Winding, Killian, 28, with ex-fiance Mark Gastineau and Douglas, 25, and Raoul, 23, with fourth husband Raoul Meyer.