When Lily Collins and husband Charlie McDowell announced they welcomed their first child, the pair were met with an avalanche of negative comments on social media.
What was supposed to be a happy moment for the Emily in Paris star and her husband, Charlie McDowell, was met with strange criticisms and backlash for welcoming her newborn daughter via surrogate.
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Collins and her screenwriter hubby announced they had welcomed a new addition to their family, and she posted the news on Instagram last week (31 Jan).
Sharing a photo of a newborn baby girl sleeping beside a blanket embroidered with her name Tove Jane, the 35-year-old wrote in the caption: "Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way.
"We love you to the moon and back again…".
Many fans were initially surprised by the news, being that they had no idea the movie star had been preparing for motherhood behind the scenes.
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Others, however, immediately took to the comments accusing the couple of contributing to a so-called 'unethical trend'. Those who denounce surrogacy claim there has been an increasing amount of 'rich people' using another individual's womb as a means of having a child.
"I will never forgive y’all for normalising commercial surrogacy btw," one outraged social media user declared.
Spectators also used the baby announcement as a means to criticise celebrities who pose in hospital beds with their newborns after welcoming their child through surrogacy.
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However, the reason behind this act is likely due to the importance of the initial skin-to-skin bonding stage between a newborn and their parents.
Close physical contact is widely used to help parents bond with their babies, even if they were born through surrogacy. The most ideal time for this contact to happen is shortly after birth, which is why parents may have a hospital bed to ensure they can physically bond with their baby straight away.
Regarding the normalisation of 'commercial surrogacy', some critics went as far as to drawing comparison to Margaret Attwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, in which fertile women are forced to carry babies for the ruling class.
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One of the most famous women who spoke about their surrogacy journey is Khloe Kardashian, who was filmed sitting on a hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after welcoming her son Tatum in August 2022. The scene was included in The Kardashians.
“It’s completely unnecessary,” said one outraged social media user, as reported by MailOnline. “They could have just posted a picture of the baby in its bassinet.”
Topics: Khloe Kardashian, Lily Collins, Parenting, Paris Hilton, Pregnancy, Social Media
Gregory Robinson