Jamie Chung on Decision to Welcome Sons via Surrogate: 'I Was Terrified of Putting My Life on Hold'

Jamie Chung is speaking out for the first time about her decision to welcome her twin baby boys via surrogate.

Speaking to Today Parents, the Lovecraft Country star, 39, explained that her career played a big role in the decision to use a surrogate to expand her family with husband Bryan Greenberg.

"I was terrified of becoming pregnant. I was terrified of putting my life on hold for two-plus years," she told the outlet. "In my industry, it feels like you're easily forgotten if you don't work within the next month of your last job. Things are so quickly paced in what we do. So it's a compromise that we made together as a couple."

Chung continued, "People probably think, 'Oh, she's so vain. She didn't want to get pregnant,' and it's much more complicated than that."

"For me, personally, and I will leave it at this, it's like, I worked my ass off my entire life to get where I am," she said. "I don't want to lose opportunities. I don't want to be resentful."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Chung and Greenberg, 44, kept the pregnancy news under wraps prior to announcing the birth of their twins last October. The actress says part of the reason they didn't share that they were expecting was because of the stigma that surrounds surrogacy.

"I think there's a little bit of shame. It's still not a very common thing and we weren't ready for judgment," she said. "We really just did it to protect ourselves. We announced things when we were ready to."

Back in March, Chung shared a candid video Instagram highlighting an honest moment of adjusting to parenthood with Greenberg.

"This is what it's really like raising twin 5 month old babies," Chung wrote over the video as she held her head in her hand.

The clip showed Greenberg struggling to stay awake while feeding one of their sons a bottle. The One Tree Hill alum rested his head on a pillow while holding a bottle for their infant, who was in a baby rocker. In the background, their other son stretched out on a play mat.

"Becoming a parent is the best thing that will happen to you, they said. This is what it's really like raising twin 5 month old babies," Chung captioned the post. "Had a good morning cry, ran away for a 45 min workout and now I can laugh about it. If you emailed me and haven't heard a reply, I thank in advance you for your patience. #parenthood #momlife #twinbabies."

In January, Chung chatted with PEOPLE about the "scary transition" of dealing with postpartum depression as a first-time mom.

"Therapy really helped me prep mentally for this lifestyle change and to not be afraid to talk about certain issues because it's not the first thing you want to say when you have kids," the star said. "You don't want to start with something negative or challenging, but I do think that these postpartum depression issues are so real."

"I felt quite guilty feeling certain things that I felt. And just knowing that it's normal and it's just because you're overwhelmed and you're full of anxiety and it's a scary transition for some people," Chung added.