'It's Very Emotional': Emma Thompson Went Through A 'Brutal' IVF Journey

Having dedicated most of her life to her career, motherhood came a bit late for Emma Thompson. While she and her husband, Greg Wise, have expressed their gratitude for the in vitro fertilization (IVF) that helped them welcome their daughter, Gaia Wise, in 1999, the couple has also been candid about how challenging the experience was. Wise waited until Gaia was 10 to get fully candid with The Times about the IVF journey he and Thompson underwent to welcome their child. Looking back on the grueling process, Wise said it was terrible "because you're filling your partner full of drugs all the time." 

Thompson was 39 when she welcomed Gaia, and CDC research shows IVF has a declining success rate as maternal age increases. While the couple was able to conceive during their first cycle, Wise revealed how difficult it was to give up after trying to conceive a second child. "IVF is very upsetting. It's a brutal process, and it's very emotional," he said, per The Telegraph. "It's really hard. But then you pick yourself up, look around, and see this unbelievably beautiful little baby you've got anyway." Thompson and Wise are far from the only couple who've had difficult experiences with fertility treatments — there are celebs who have bared it all about being unable to conceive on IVF.

Emma Thompson and Greg Wise were able to expand their family following the birth of Gaia Wise when they informally adopted their son, Tindyebwa Agaba Wise, after meeting him at the Refugee Council in December 2003, per The New Yorker. The Oscar-winning "Nanny McPhee" star was drawn to the then-16-year-old Rwandan refugee when he came up to thank her, and she invited him to her home for the holidays. By 2004, Thompson and Wise made him a permanent member of the family, a testament to how to be there for your partner during the adoption process.

Speaking with The New Yorker in November 2022, Thompson shared how her son's addition to the family helped her appreciate the result of her failed IVF rounds after welcoming Gaia. "I often think if it had worked there wouldn't have been space. So I'm very grateful the IVF didn't work, because every day I'm grateful for Tindy," she said. It's a great outlook on her IVF journey despite how much she can relate to fellow screen stars like Kristen Wiig, who candidly admitted her IVF journey was "the most difficult time" in her life.

As for her parenting style, Thompson admitted to Women and Home that she felt guilty because of how much she didn't know at the time she was raising a young child and a teenager. But she looked to her own upbringing for answers. "It's also helpful to look at your own parents, consider where you think they got it right and wrong, and try not to repeat their mistakes," Thompson said.