Maria Menounos shared that she ended her friendship with someone who “judged” her for having a child via surrogate.
Previous E! The news anchor spoke about her journey to motherhood on Monday's episode of the “Women in the Nude” podcast after host Sasha Pieterse asked if anyone had given her a “st” for turning to surrogacy.
“It's funny because we had some — well, they were friends. One of them worked with me for a while, and he was a very nice person and I liked him,” Menounos recalls.
The entertainment journalist, 46, claimed her unnamed friend went to her husband, Kevin Undergaro, and asked him: “What do you mean she can’t get pregnant?” Like, this doesn't make any sense.
Undergaro, 57, explained that Menounos' neurosurgeon advised her not to carry her child due to complications from removing a brain tumor in 2017.
“[The friend] He was like, “I don't get it.” “It doesn't make any sense,” the former “Extra” host recalls. “And I said to myself, 'Oh, I never want to talk to you again, I never want to see you again.'”
“It's one thing to be judged by outsiders who don't know it and don't understand it,” Menounos said, but it's another thing to be judged by someone who “actually” knows her personally.
“Just saying anything judgmental is crazy to me,” she concluded.
Menounos and Undergaro, who tied the knot in 2017, underwent IVF treatments before doctors discovered her brain tumor. Although the tumor was successfully removed, she was still advised not to carry her child.
The couple was eventually able to have a child with the help of a surrogate in 2022.
However, Menounos faced other health concerns during pregnancy when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had to have parts of her pancreas, spleen and lymph nodes removed. She was later declared cancer-free.
The former “Today” show correspondent and AfterBuzz TV CEO welcomed daughter Athena Alexandra in June 2023.
