Danish actress and model Brigitte Nielsen welcomed her daughter Frida on June 22 after ten years of in vitro fertilization. She opened up about being a mother again age 55, and told People magazine that it makes her feel "young."
However, she did admit that the journey towards motherhood at an advanced age was a challenging one, and advised other mothers who are well beyond their maternal age should be "realistic."
Nielsen was candid about her pregnancy and described the experience of being an older mother as being "such a long road."
What I want women to know is that everything is possible, but you have to be realistic.
The actress began the process of freezing her eggs when she was 40. Even then, doctors were skeptical and warned her that the chances of conceiving with her own eggs was a 3 to 4 percent possibility.
If you don't want to use [donor] eggs, you have to preserve your own eggs at a reasonable age for there to be a possibility. I wouldn't even bother trying after age 42.
Nielsen also said in the exclusive interview with People that undergoing IVF could pose some disappointments.
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.
Frida is Brigitte's fifth child and her first with her 39-year-old husband, Mattia Dessi, to whom she's been married since 2006.
Nielsen touched on the double standard surrounding the stigma of being an older mother, saying that older men don't receive the same level of criticism.
Well, yeah, I can understand people saying, 'How dare she?' 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 sceptical? Yes, I understand. I also totally respect the fact that not everybody likes it and agrees with it, but it is my life.
Nielsen, who was formerly married to actor Sylvester Stallone, said that her IVF journey was an isolating experience.
I think at times you can feel lonely, because a lot of women don't talk to each other about it. We should hold hands because there's nothing wrong with wanting to have a baby whether you're 20, you're 30, you're 40 or, in my case, 50.
The Red Sonja and Rocky IV actress is a mother of four boys from previous marriages: Julian Winding, 34; Killian Gastineau, 28; Douglas Meyer, 25; and Raoul Meyer Jr, 23.
With four loving sons, she still always wanted to have a daughter. Now she's overcome the odds and said the long journey was worth the wait when Frida was born. "She's healthy, she's beautiful," Nielsen beamed.
We wish Neilsen and her family all the best.
