Jamie Chung had her career in mind when she opted to use a surrogate to welcome twin sons last year.
“I was terrified of becoming pregnant,” the actress, 39, told Today Parents Wednesday.
“I was terrified of putting my life on hold for two-plus years,” she added. “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.”
Chung noted that while many may think “she’s so vain” and “didn’t want to get pregnant,” her choice was “more complicated.”
The “Real World” alum explained, “I worked my ass off my entire life to get where I am. I don’t want to lose opportunities. I don’t want to be resentful.”
Chung called the decision to find a gestational carrier “a compromise” that she and husband Bryan Greenberg “made together as a couple.”
When the pair announced their baby boys’ arrival via Instagram in October 2021, they had not previously shared their pregnancy news.
The “Lovecraft Country” star and the “One Tree Hill” alum, 44, kept quiet due to “a little bit of shame,” she told the outlet.
“We really just did it to protect ourselves,” Chung said. “We announced things when we were ready to.”
Since becoming parents, the couple have been vocal via Instagram about their ups and downs with the little ones, whose names they have yet to reveal.
“Surviving is thriving,” Chung wrote on Instagram of motherhood in May. “You roll with the punches (and kicks), laugh when times feel difficult, have a glass of wine and then get up the next morning only to do it all over again.
“Occasionally something magical happens; a smile, a laugh, a connection and you’re sucked right back in,” she continued. “And after all the s–t, literal and figurative, you start to enjoy the journey.”
Greenberg, for his part, told his followers that same month that parenting is “tough,” but he and Chung are “taking it in stride.”
