In her early 40s, Michelle Stafford realized she had it all…except a child. The Young and the Restless actress came across several obstacles in the journey to finally becoming a mom.
The option of adoption was out. “It’s harder for a single mom to adopt than even same-sex couples,” Michelle, 42, tells the holiday issue of CBS Watch.
“The attorney says to the woman who wants to put her baby up for adoption, ‘I have this couple…and I have this single woman.’ And that woman thinks, ‘Well, I am single. So she is out,’" explains Michelle.
So, she turned to artificial insemination and later, in vitro fertilization. “There were some very dark moments for me,” she recalls. “They were drug-induced by the hormones, and the rage and depression I felt would be out of my control.”
When she realized she would never be able to carry a child, she turned to surrogacy. “One day my lawyer calls me and goes, ‘We have a glitch. The judge does not see a single parent as legitimate…You basically have to adopt your [biological] daughter,’” Michelle said.
Michelle was officially named her biological child’s mother in the sixth month of the surrogate’s pregnancy. But, finally her daughter Natalia Scout Lee was born in December 2009.
“[One day, I hope Natalia says,] ‘My mom is such a cool chick. I am so lucky that she went through all of that to have me. I am going to buy her a house in St. Barts,’” she jokes.
