Andy Cohen is a single dad to two children. He decided to become a dad on his own and welcomed two children by surrogate: his son, Benjamin Allen, in 2019, and his daughter, Lucy Eve, in April this year. Andy’s kids are actually a similar age to his friend Anderson Cooper’s two children, who were born in 2020 and February. Andy seems like a very happy dad and posts cute pics of the kids, but it does seem like he’ll stop at two because he talked about what he’s going to do with his three remaining embryos. He might save them for his kids to use one day? That’s a new one.
Andy Cohen is already thinking about his kids’ futures as parents.
The Bravo star, 54, appeared on Monday’s episode of Sirius XM’s Jeff Lewis Live, where he chatted about his two children, 3-year-old son Benjamin Allen and 5-week-old daughter Lucy Eve, and revealed that he would let them use his remaining embryos when they want to start families of their own.
Asked how many embryos he had left, Cohen said, “a couple.”
“I have a few. I can’t remember. I think I have three left?” he added. “You know what I’m thinking — this is crazy — but if either of them cannot have kids, maybe in 20 years they’ll defrost their sibling and raise them. Is that a weird thought?”
Cohen welcomed both Ben and Lucy via surrogate. He noted on the show that his kids are “biological siblings” and he did not use the same surrogate for the births.
Speaking about Ben as a big brother, Cohen teases that the toddler “loves her but is trying to kill her” as he is jealous that there is a new baby in the house.
“The crazy thing is, by design, I am spending so much time with him,” says Cohen. “Because, by the way, she doesn’t know what’s happening. I sit with her for a few hours a day and I’m like ‘Just smell me. Hear my voice. This is me. I’m your dad.’ But [with Ben], I’m really in there with him and I don’t know if it’s really registering how much time I’m spending with him.”
Cohen welcomed Lucy in late April, announcing the birth of his daughter in a surprise Instagram post.
Andy asks if it’s a weird thought and I’ll admit it gave me pause at first, but it actually does make sense and he’s showing a lot of foresight. His reason honestly wouldn’t have occurred to me, but it would be a nice option to have for his children if they aren’t able to have kids of their own and want to do so with a biological connection. Andy has the money to keep paying for the embryo storage and he definitely is not the type to donate them, so why not? I also do kind of believe what he says about spending a lot of time with his kids, particularly his son. Of course he has a lot of help, but he also has the resources and access to take them around with him. Anyway, Lucy is adorable and Benjamin is cute and looks just like Andy.
Sounds kind of weird to me but whatever. No one will be forced, so…
The kids are really cute !
Yes, it’s weird.
Lol yes Andy it is most definately wierd. He should have kept that to himself.
When my husband and I were getting ready to move into together and start IVF my roommates were other grad school students. One was a genetic researcher and she was SO excited for me that my husband was 28. She was like – this will help your family for generations! All to say, having children later in life is great if that’s your journey, but I don’t think his kids should be going out of their way to use embryos that were created by a 50 year old. These dudes think they’re immortal.
I cannot stand this man!!!
Neither can I. I will admit I asked myself why would they want his embryos as there are certainly enough pr!cks in the world. But given his explanation, I get it. I still wouldn’t use them. And he has the money to keep them viable.
Totally get it. Not that weird. Happens a lot in families, people just don’t talk about it. My aunt had extra embryos and saved them and of course my husband and I had many issues having a baby. We ended up having our own embryos and using a surrogate but my aunt offered hers to us. It was very sweet and lovely. I have a couple left over and will continue to pay for them. I will offer to my own daughter or nieces/nephews in the future.
How long do embryos last? I was wondering how likely it was that they would be viable when his kids were grown up.
I think the longest successful embryo transfer was 28 years. I think any amount of time is possible if the frozen embryos are in a state of stable temperature.
Andy is a tool.
X 100
in my world, he is Drunk NYE Dude, always and forever. he’s awful and idk why he has a platform.
Adorable children, and the ugliest sofa I have ever seen. He’s rich and he bought THAT?
Oh my word that sofa is indeed horrendous.
I don’t mind it. It looks kind of indoor / outdoor, like for a patio or a Carolina room or something.
Dude?!? How did this topic even come up? Yikes so odd
Would that even be ethical? Would the resulting child be their sibling technically speaking?
From People:
“ The crazy thing is, by design, I am spending so much time with him,” says Cohen. “Because, by the way, she doesn’t know what’s happening. I sit with her for a few hours a day and I’m like ‘Just smell me. Hear my voice. This is me. I’m your dad.’ But [with Ben], I’m really in there with him and I don’t know if it’s really registering how much time I’m spending with him.”
The guy wants a brag that he spends time with his children. He brought them into the world damn straight he should be spending time with them. If he wasn’t such a raging narcissist it won’t even be mention. These poor children.
Seriously.
UGH – that is so outrageous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like congratulations on ‘spending time’ with your kids, like you’re doing them a favor?
He obviously has a s-ton of help.
Honestly, I’d totally do it if my parents had frozen embryos and my spouse and I struggled. Embryo adoption is a great option for a lot of folks with fertility issues that impact egg/sperm quality, but not the ability to carry a pregnancy. It’s much less weird to use a family’s donated embryo than a strangers.
I find all the ways people can have a family now fascinating. So is he saying that he used the same women to create embryos with his sperm and her eggs then used a second women to carry the baby? I wonder if the women is a friend or if you can get anonymous eggs like some women use anonymous sperm donors. And if it’s a friend, I wonder if she will be a part of the kids lives…
Yes, anonymous egg donation is very much a thing, similar to sperm donation (but significantly more invasive.) Although in our post-23 And Me world, such “anonymous” donations may or may not actually stay that way, which is something the donees should consider prior to “giving” (actually, being paid.) There’s a pretty significant chance that a young person may come knocking in 20 years or so wanting to know the person whose biology they share.
I wonder, given how some States are changing laws around abortion, if they will consider destroying frozen embryos that a couple/person does not plan to use an abortion, and therefore illegal. Can someone in the future be prosecuted and jailed for not using a frozen embryo?
There are already some states that do not allow frozen embryos to be discarded (LA) or donated for research (ND). The ASRM (American society or reproductive medicine) is working very hard right now and has been for years against the personhood movement (the idea was to attach roe v Wade by getting embryos defined as people with rights , then de facto a foetus is also a person and there you go). The science on how long an embryo can be viable is still unknown. Theoretically as long it is stored in a stable state and survives the thaw process. One issue with “older” embryos is that because the start of ART has changed so much that the thaw processes are so different than they were that labs don’t have the media. As anyone who has gone through ivf will tell you there are a LOT of factors that contribute to a successful pregnancy, and the embryo surviving the thaw process is a small (true crucial) first step.
I absolutely do not like this man but his children are beautiful.
I don’t mind the sofa. It looks comfortable and homey. Maybe he had a similar one during his childhood. Beautiful kids all around.
Beautiful kiddos, here’s my thought…. I can’t give my kids ANYTHING I have (almost) no matter how nice, expensive, loved by me- they want their own stuff, their own lives. I’m slowly purging my life so I don’t saddle them with stuff. How in the heck am I going to Will them a person or three? It’s not like they can say, ‘Meh,’ and drop it at the Goodwill.
I say this in jest, to each their own 😀