Jenny Morrison opens up about “devastating” 14 years of struggle
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s wife, Jenny Morrison, has opened about their personal 14-year plight that took a toll on their marriage.
The Australian politician and his wife share two children together, Abbey and Lily, but for a long time were unable to have children of their own.
While at a panel with Nine News presenter Peter Overton and actor Mary Coustas, Australia’s first lady candidly spoke about the toll years of IVF had on herself and her husband’s relationship.
Jenny and Scott were married in 1990 after meeting a few years earlier through church when they were both 12-years-old.
Two years into marriage, they decided to have a family but soon found out this might be a challenging task, she said at the Australian Jewish Fertility Network event on Wednesday morning.
“Just before that I had stopped contraception and I thought I was being really clever and not falling pregnant but when we actually started [trying for a baby] it wasn't happening,” Mrs Morrison said.
“I saw a doctor and they found I had extensive endometriosis. That was devastating.”
One in three women who have endometriosis struggle with fertility and find it hard to get pregnant, so like many couples who face these issues, they decided to get IVF.
The process was gruelling and after ten years, there were still no results. Mrs Morrison admitted the memories from that period in her life were “awful”.
“It is difficult because so many of our friends and family are having babies. There are babies everywhere,” she said.
“It was really really hard every single time you did an IVF and it didn't work.”
Mrs Morrison admitted her husband handled the situation better than others, but threw himself into his work as a distraction and said she could see how he was “still sad inside”.
“It framed an awful lot of my life. I found the hormones really affected me and made me feel very sick,” Mrs Morrison revealed.
“Sometimes you can get quite depressed and people around you are well meaning but they don’t know what to say. Unless you have been in it yourself you just cannot understand what they are going through.”
Even though their marriage took a hit, Mrs Morrison says her husband was “gorgeous” and told her she was more than enough for him, despite both wanting children.
“Scott and I are a very close couple. We grew up together and we rely on each other,” she said.
“There were some times that were really hard and you lash out and get angry. But we got by and we made it to the other side.”
After ten years, she was advised to get a second opinion, where she learnt she had severe endometriosis.
“I went back to that doctor and was told to give up. He said you are not going to have children and you should start thinking about adopting or whatever you want to do,” she said.
Another two years passed until Mrs Morrison underwent microsurgery to treat her endometriosis.
About three weeks after the five-hour surgery, the Australian first lady fell pregnant with her first child, Abbey.
She checked a pregnancy test after feeling “agitated”, she was shocked.
“I could not believe it when I saw those double lines. I was in absolute shock. I walked out to Scott and said ‘I don’t think we are going to Rwanda in January’,” Ms Morrison said.
She showed him the test and Mr Morrison asked: “What does it mean?”
“I said I think I’m pregnant,” Mrs Morrison said.
The couple went on to have two healthy girls - a journey Mrs Morrison says was worth it in the end.
Scott and Jenny have been open about their fertility struggles in the past,
It is the first time Jenny has candidly spoken about their “devastating” struggle in depth.