Summer House's Paige DeSorbo froze her eggs over Mother's Day Weekend and opened up about the side effects and the part that didn't scare her about the process.
The Context
Over the years on reality television, DeSorbo has shared her complicated feelings about becoming a mom. She started out as someone who fans expected to be married and with kids in just a few years, but with her growing professional success became less interested in rushing to start a family and more interested in continuing on her business journey.
Some fans speculated that DeSorbo's hesitancy to settle down into a traditional wife and mother role sparked her breakup with Southern Charm's Craig Conover. Conover shared on this season of the show that he wanted to freeze his sperm to guarantee he could have a family one day.
What To Know
DeSorbo said on Tuesday's episode of her "Giggly Squad" podcast that she had her retrieval on Friday, and the doctor was able to retrieve 28 eggs. However, only 13 were considered mature, which is necessary to eventually make an embryo.
"That's a really good amount of eggs," DeSorbo said.
The 32-year-old said she could decide to do a second egg retrieval to boost the number of eggs she has available for when she wants to become a mom. It's generally expected that about 50 percent of mature eggs will turn into embryos once fertilized. Then, embryos are usually tested for genetic abnormalities, which can further reduce the number of embryos that are considered healthy for transfer.
Leading up to egg retrieval, a woman has to inject herself with multiple shots each day, and DeSorbo said she was nervous about it but surprised herself at how good she was at it. But, she also underestimated how significant the recovery would be after the retrieval.
DeSorbo said she feels very bloated, which is a common side effect, and she's had to remind herself her body went through a "trauma experience" and she needs to give herself grace.
DeSorbo and Conover split late last year after a multi-year relationship and viewers have watched DeSorbo open up about her decision to become a mom one day, just not yet. Along with her job being on Summer House, DeSorbo just released a New York Times bestselling book with Berner, has several major brand partnerships, recently embarked on a successful podcast tour and hosts content on Amazon Live.
Now that she's frozen her eggs, DeSorbo said she feels a lot less pressure about motherhood, and if she only has one child, she's fine with that because it's what's meant to happen.
DeSorbo also opened up about her sympathy for women who go through in vitro fertilization multiple times, given the toll it takes on your body physically and emotionally.
"I don't know how the female body does it. Everything you feel is just so tender," DeSorbo said. "The fact that women aren't seen as these goddesses in society, I don't understand it."
She first announced she was freezing her eggs in January and said she was someone who has "always known" she would eventually freeze her eggs. DeSorbo's received mixed diagnoses as to whether she has PCOS, which, she told Berner isn't uncommon because it's a condition that's hard to diagnose. Women with PCOS can face difficulties getting pregnant naturally because of an irregular cycle and problems with ovulation.
Dr. Joshua Klein, who treated DeSorbo at Extend Fertility, told Newsweek that egg freezing is a big commitment in terms of time and energy, but also financially.
"But for women who aren't ready to start a family in their 20's or early 30's, which is biologically the "most fertile" time, egg freezing can be a life-changing investment in protecting your chances to have children when you're ready to be a mother," Klein said.
What People Are Saying
DeSorbo on Giggly Squad podcast: I'm very proud of myself for doing the whole process. The one thing I'll say about it is it's harder than you think it's going to be and it's also way easier than you think it's going to be.
Berner on Giggly Squad podcast: So Paige has been going around acting like she's pregnant. She's sending me photos going, how cute do I look? Cause she's slightly bloated after gettign her eggs removed. When I say slightly bloated I mean she looks like me after a first bite of a chicken sandwich."
Klein told Newsweek: "These days, we have some simple tests (such as the AMH blood test) that can help us predict if someone has a robust egg supply and will have a great result with egg freezing, or if they have a low egg supply and should expect more limited results. Checking AMH can help women understand where they stand (above and beyond their biological age) and inform the decision about whether egg freezing makes sense for them to pursue."
What's Next
DeSorbo said she may consider another round in the fall, depending on how her body recovers. If she does it, she'd do it in the fall because she needs to "give my body a break."
She told Berner that this is a decision she made for 10 years from now, adding that "men could never."
Update 5/15/25 9:40 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Dr. Joshua Klein.
