Brigitte Nielsen defends having baby at 54: “It’s my life”
Brigitte Nielsen has spoken out against the backlash she received from people who think she is too old to have a baby at 54, pointing out that older fathers never receive the same criticism.
Her fifth child, daughter Frida, was born in June. It is her first child with 39-year-old husband Mattia Dessi.
“Some women think, ‘Oh my God, I’m too old’,” she told People. “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, now 55, also revealed she started having IVF treatment 14 years ago in the hope of becoming pregnant.
She described it as “such a long road” to becoming a mother again, and wanted other women to know “everything is possible, but you have to be realistic” when trying to become pregnant later in life.
The actress and model, who was previously married to Sylvester Stallone, said she started freezing her eggs aged 40 and was given a 3 to 4 per cent chance of conceiving with her own eggs.
“I totally, totally beat the odds,” she said.
The Danish star said the process can be “lonely”, “because a lot of women don’t talk to each other about it”.
She added: “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.”
Nielsen is already a mother to four sons from previous marriages: Raoul Meyer Jr, 23; Douglas Meyer, 25; Killian Gastineau, 28; and Julian Winding, 34.