From Rupali Ganguly's health complications to Debina Bonnerjee's IVF journey: Times when TV actresses spoke about their struggles to get pregnant

A few television actresses have previously spoken about their difficult experiences of producing children naturally. Sambhavna Seth recently talked about her unsuccessful IVF attempts to have a baby. Payal Rohatgi shared she has been told she won't be able to conceive naturally in one of the episodes of Lock Upp. She also shared that she failed even after attempting IVF. These actresses have been quite vocal about not conceiving naturally and all the difficulties they faced.

Here are TV actresses who spoke about their pregnancy struggles, IVF and not giving up on becoming a mother:

Sambhavna Seth has been candid about her difficulties in conceiving a child. Just after discussing her failed IVF attempts, the actress recently disclosed that many people suggested she consider surrogacy. Sambhavna had earlier shared with ETimes TV that “For the past few years, trolls have been telling me how it is high time that I became a mother to a child and not just my four pets. So, finally, I decided to speak about my IVF journey. For the past five years, we have been trying to have a baby. Since I was not very young when I got married, I knew there would be issues in getting pregnant. My husband and I have gone through four unsuccessful IVF cycles."

Recently, Sambhavna posted a video on her Youtube channel and spoke about considering surrogacy but shared that it's not legal anymore. She said “We did try for surrogacy but failed. We never talked about it as we did not find it relevant. Now trying surrogacy is not possible because it is banned and illegal. I was surprised when people wrote this to me to try and they did not know this. Surrogacy became like a business in India. No one knew where the money was going. It became a reason for it to be banned. We tried for it but doctors gave us no reason for why it failed.”

Mahhi Vij had a difficult time as well. She tried IVF to have a child when she was 32 years old in 2014. Notwithstanding the physicians' recommendations of surrogacy, her husband Jay Bhanushali said he'd prefer to spend the nine months that followed with the child. They gave one final try and 'it clicked.' During the procedure, Mahhi had to take about a hundred injections during the process. After Tara was born, Mahhi said, "That time I broke down when she was not leaving the ventilator." Their baby was delivered prematurely and was admitted to the NICU for 100 days.

Even Payal Rohatgi, who is now married to Sangram Singh, admitted in one of the Lock Upp episodes that she is 'infertile' and cannot have children. She revealed that they tried IVF but were unsuccessful. Payal revealed “I can't have kids. Maine socha hum shaadi tab karenge when I can get pregnant. So, I have to be fit mentally and physically, concentrate on acting and go on with life. It's okay to not get pregnant. 4-5 saal se hum log try kar rahe hai, nahi ho raha. I think Sangram has figured out that I can't get pregnant. Maine IVF kiya but it was not successful."

Even producer Ekta Kapoor had several failed IUI and IVF rounds before deciding on surrogacy. After her kid was born, Ekta posted a note in which her doctor, Nandita Palshetkar revealed, "Ekta Kapoor came to me some years back to become a mother. We tried to help her get pregnant with multiple cycles of IVF. But we were unsuccessful. Hence, we had to take the help of the technique of surrogacy which we performed nine months back at our IVF centre. Nine months later she has achieved success with the birth of a child."

Kashmera Shah did not hold back in speaking out about her extraordinarily tough IVF experience, which she eventually had to abandon. Kashmera told TOI “I took a sabbatical from work to have babies.I had been trying to conceive for three years but it didn't work out. It was tough as my twin babies weren't conceived naturally. I had lost my health. My body went for a toss during the IVF process. I had 14 failed attempts at having kids. The IVF injections are no less than actually being a mother in the pregnancy stage. You have mood swings, put on weight, and get annoyed just like any would-be mother. It becomes difficult to lose weight because it's not natural. My doctor would tell me how I was losing out on my health and becoming extremely temperamental."

Kashmera further added “People thought that I opted for surrogacy because I did not want to ruin my figure. But actually, I did lose my figure and health. I was taking injections during IVF and that took a toll on me. I went from size 24 to size 32. But I did not give up, neither on motherhood nor my health." She further added, "I received flak from people who were already blessed with kids. They said mean things about me. But you know, everything in my life happened late, right from finding the right life partner, then convincing him to have babies to turning a mother, everything was late."

Rupali Ganguly, the actress from the TV serial Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai and Anupamaa, is a well-known name in India. Rupali revealed that her primary goal in life was to marry and have children. Her desire to become a mother was complicated by her severe thyroid problems. She added “I had major thyroid issues, so your fertility count does go down. There were issues and I did consult a lot of doctors. My son is no less than a miracle for me. Mera ambition tha shaadi karna aur bachcha paida karna. Yeh mera ambition tha life ka (My ambition in life was to get married and have kids) and finally, I was getting to be a mother and after a lot of issues, like ‘nahi ho sakta (it cannot happen)’... Having a child was difficult.” In 2013, Rupali married her husband Ashwin K Verma and Rudransh was born in the year 2015.

Debina was affected by endometriosis. They chose IVF after failing to conceive naturally. She had several IVF failures before having her gorgeous baby girl, Lianna. Debina told ETimes TV, how doctors suggested IUI and later IVF, she said “Initially, doctors suggested IUI. It is not a very invasive process. The fertile days are calculated and according to it, doctors give a few injections. A semen analysis of the husband is also done. It did not work for me. I tried it 5 times. It was a failure. And the next best option was IVF."

She further explained “After beginning the IVF treatment, it is divided into two parts – the egg extraction and putting the fertilized egg back again. The first process is a bit painful and tedious. The egg extraction process takes time. Egg extraction cannot be done at once. My process happened thrice. Each process costs around Rs 1.5 lakh. I am just giving an overview of the vest. In the process, the eggs that were formed because of the injection were a lot but when the eggs were extracted, there were only 3, very slow-moving embryos. There is also a myth about putting on weight when injections are being injected but no, I didn’t put on weight and weighed normal.”