Elizabeth Banks: Why I Accepted Not Being Pregnant

Courtesy Women’s Health

After years of unsuccessful attempts to expand her family, Elizabeth Banks finally got to experience What to Expect When You’re Expecting — at least on screen.

But off, when the actress and her husband Max Handelman eventually decided to travel down the path of gestational surrogacy, Banks kept her eyes on the prize: her son.

“It helps that other moms had said that once they had their babies, they forgot they were ever pregnant,” she says in the March issue of Women’s Health.

“So once my focus became the baby and not the pregnancy, it was a very easy decision.” Thrilled to have welcomed Felix last March, the couple still makes it a point to carve out plenty of couple time.

Fortunately, 19 years into their relationship — and co-owners of a production company — the pair have mastered a system.

“Working together provides a lot of balance in our life and it’s a way for us to [see each other], because I travel so much for work,” the Man on a Ledge star, 37, explains.

In addition to the demands of her blossoming career, the delicate balance of baby and her marriage allows Banks — who plays Effie Trinket in the highly anticipated Hunger Games film adaptation – to be a “good role model” for the life she leads.

“I have an amazing marriage and it will be long-lasting. I think I’m a good mom,” she says. “I could run for office, no problem, because there are no skeletons in my closet. Not that I would run for office…”

– Anya Leon

 

Staci Swiderski, CEO and owner of Family Source Consultants has been involved in the field of reproductive medicine since 2002. Staci has vigorously grown the comprehensive egg donation and gestational surrogacy agency to become a worldwide leader in the third-party reproduction field. Staci is a former intended parent herself. She and her husband welcomed their son via gestational surrogacy in 2005. Additionally, Staci had the experience of assisting an infertile couple (AKA Recipient Parents) build their family through her efforts as an egg donor, with her donation resulting in the births of their son and daughter.