Maria Menounos Sparks Debate After Revealing Female Friend Shamed Her For Using Surrogate

Former E! News correspondent Maria Menounos recently talked about her journey to fertility and healing, and shared how wants to help others with her establishment of the Heal Squad podcast.

A key aspect of Menounos's journey has been accepting her birth and early motherhood story, which had some bumps along the way.

While speaking on the Women in the Nude podcast, hosted by Sasha Pieterse, Menounos revealed:

"We tried everything, literally everything. They tried to get me pregnant; that didn't work. Keven [her husband] had a surgery; that didn't work. He's hung me upside-down like a chicken; that didn't work. We did everything."

"But we got so lucky. Just after a decade of trying everything, we are so grateful to the beautiful family who helped us conceive our baby."

In June 2023, Menounos and her husband welcomed their daughter, Athena, after connecting with the surrogate who would make their dreams come true.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as happy about the arrangement as Menounos, her husband, or her father, who would lovingly begin to go by "Papou" (Greek for "Grandfather").

When Pieterse asked if Menounos ever received hate for her surrogacy, the TV host revealed she'd lost a friend over it.

"They were friends. One of them worked with me for a while."

"This is somebody who was so sweet and I loved."

"She said to my husband, 'What do you mean she can't carry? That doesn't make any sense.'"

"And he goes, 'Her neurosurgeon, the top neurosurgeon in the world, said she can't carry.'"

"And she was like, 'I don't get it. It just doesn't make any sense.'"

"When he told me about it, I was like, 'Oh, I don't ever want to talk to you again.'"

"It's one thing to be judged by outside people who don't know and don't get it. But you actually know me, and you know what we've gone through. For you to ever say anything so judgmental is just crazy to me."

You can watch the interview here:

Viewers and listeners were disgusted that someone had criticized Menounos's journey to motherhood.

@sashapieterse/@womeninthenudepodcast/Instagram

@sashapieterse/@womeninthenudepodcast/Instagram

@sashapieterse/@womeninthenudepodcast/Instagram

@sashapieterse/@womeninthenudepodcast/Instagram

Menounos periodically shares updates about her life with Athena, including her being big enough to open her own presents for Christmas 2024.

Fellow Instagrammers expressed love for the family and their journey to coming together.

@mariamenounos/Instagram

@mariamenounos/Instagram

@mariamenounos/Instagram

@mariamenounos/Instagram

@mariamenounos/Instagram

@mariamenounos/Instagram

Not everyone is willing to accept that there are different roads to the same result, including how to have a baby.

Some friendships last a season instead of a lifetime, but Menounos eventually achieved what she had always been hoping for.