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Actor Michelle Yeoh has plenty of impressive titles under her belt, including Oscar winner and Golden Globe winner for her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Now, the Wicked actor is opening up about another title she’s privately held within her own journey of fertility and motherhood: the feeling of being a “failure.” In a new interview, Yeoh discusses her infertility journey, the effect it had on her marriage, and how there is life after the struggle, regardless of your personal outcome.
On Monday, the 62-year-old shared on the BBC Radio 4 show Woman’s Hour that she wanted to start a family with her first husband, Dickson Poon, but the couple experienced infertility. “I always wanted to have children,” said Yeoh on the podcast. She described that having a family and starting the next generation was a big goal in her marriage, but the process wasn’t easy for her, and says that it eventually led to the end of her first marriage.
Yeoh explains she went through fertility treatments but didn’t specify which treatments she tried. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a common treatment that couples who are experiencing infertility use. However, the success rate varies depending on individual factors like age and underlying health conditions. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies like intrauterine insemination (IUI) only lead to a live birth 23 percent of the time.
Unfortunately, says Yeoh, none of the fertility treatments worked for her. “The worst moment to go through is, every month, you feel like such a failure,” said Yeoh. “And then you go, ‘Why?’ And I think at some point you stop blaming yourself. There are certain things in your body that doesn’t function in a certain way. That’s how it is.”
Yeoh then described how the experience affected her marriage. “These are conversations that you really have to have with yourself and be able to look ahead and think, ‘Yes, we love each other very much now, but in 10 years or 20 years, I still can’t give him the family that he craves,’” said Yeoh. “And you have to be fair.” Despite what Yeoh and her former husband went through, she said, “we tried.”
Despite her struggles, Yeoh said learning to move forward was an important part of her journey. “I think you come to a point where you have to stop blaming you,” she said, explaining that she had to eventually “let go and move on.”
After separating from her ex-husband, Yeoh later met French motor racing executive Jean Todt. The two became engaged after just a month of dating and married in 2023 after a 19-year engagement, according to People. Now, Yeoh is a stepmother to Todt’s son, who just welcomed his first child. Yeoh shared the news in an Instagram post, welcoming her grandson’s arrival.
“We are so truly blessed… can’t tell u how happy I am for this very very special bundle of joy ❤️✨,” she wrote in the caption. Yeoh later joked on Today that people thought she had a baby after her announcement. She also told Woman’s Hour that she’s thrilled to be a grandmother. “Of course, I’m not going to have a baby right now, but the thing is we just had a grandchild,” she said. “Then you feel you’re still very, very blessed because you do have a baby in your life.”
You can listen to the full podcast here, and catch Yeoh starring in the film adaptation of Wicked, which premieres on November 22.
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