It’s no surprise millennials aren’t big fans of surrogacy

Some social media users have criticised Lily Collins for using a surrogate, accusing her of being part of an unethical trend’. Charlotte Cripps asks why this story has hit such a raw nerve

- Charlotte Cripps

Lily Collins is dealing with a lot more than adjusting to sleepless nights as a new mum: she's facing an uproar over her decision to use a surrogate for her new baby. The Emily in Paris actor, 35, and her film director husband Charlie McDowell, 41, announced the birth of their daughter, Tove, last Friday in a post on Collins’s official Instagram. They shared their “endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate”, along with a photo of their baby wrapped up in a soft blanket embroidered with her name.

As any new parent knows, the joy of welcoming a new baby into the world is unparalleled. But since the couple’s baby announcement, hell has broken loose. Some social media users have attacked Collins, who is the daughter of musician Phil Collins, for using a surrogate, accusing her of being part of an “unethical trend” that feminists and anti-surrogacy critics argue involves “rich people renting women’s bodies” and is “akin to human trafficking”.

There is also speculation that Collins, along with other A-list celebrities, may have hired a surrogate in an effort to stay thin and preserve her body, in what is termed “social surrogacy”. This is when women choose not to be pregnant for non-medical reasons, often to prevent disruption to their career. Fertility experts have also weighed in on the debate, claiming that surrogacy is big business for celebrities who lack the level of body fat needed for regular ovulation – and asking whether this could have driven Collins’s decision to use a surrogate, or indeed the decision of countless other famous women, such as Nicole Kidman, Grimes, Paris Hilton, and Sarah Jessica Parker, to do the same.