Jess Hardiman
Actor, model and singer Brigitte Nielsen has hit back at trolls who have slammed her for raising a young child in her 60s.
Brigitte Nielsen gave birth to her daughter Frida, five, when she was 55, having already been mother to four older sons, aged 28, 30, 33 and 39 respectively.
She shares little Frida with Italian husband Mattia Dessi, 45, who she met back in 2004 – getting together when she was 42 and he was 27 – before tying the knot two years later.
The couple, who live in Marbella, Spain, spent 13 years going through IVF before finally welcoming their child – though, strangely, Nielsen said it was her ‘easiest’ pregnancy yet.
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“The doctor warned me to be realistic about my chances,” she told People in a new interview.
“He told me I had a two and a half percent chance of getting pregnant, so when it finally happened, it was just amazing. And then there was fear, because I was such high-risk, being 54.”
She added: “I had a long time to prepare for Frida."
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What hasn’t been easy, however, is the backlash she’s received from the general public - something she says people often don't subject men the same age to, pointing to the likes of Robert De Niro as an example.
Nielsen continued: “Half the world was saying that when I got pregnant at 55 — including my four older sons.
“But first of all, there’s no such thing as ‘too old'.”
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She added: "We don’t say that to men who have children in their 60s, 70s, even 80s!
"Look at Robert De Niro. He's 79, and he has a 7-month-old."
Nielsen would even argue that her age serves as a benefit, having obtained a certain wisdom that younger parents might not have.
She said she’s also surprisingly felt less tired this time around – not least because, when her younger kids were little, she was juggling motherhood with ‘being on a plane, on a movie set’, while now ‘Frida comes first’.
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“You know how kids say grandmothers are the best?” she asked.
“I feel like I have that mindset and emotion. I have the patience and that extra bit of love to give now, and I think it’s because I’m a grandmother’s age.”