Lily Collins shared the first glimpse of herself with her newborn daughter Tove just a day after her husband Charlie McDowell clapped back at critics of their decision to use a surrogate.
The Emily in Paris star took to Instagram to repost a photo from Charlie’s account, where she was seen enjoying a walk with her baby in a stroller.
Dressed in a maroon long-sleeve shirt, dark leggings, and sneakers, only the back of Lily was visible as she pushed the stroller along a sunny, tree-lined street.
Charlie had added two heart emojis to his original post, while Lily simply captioned it, ‘Utter bliss.’
While the couple received an outpouring of congratulations from fans, they also faced criticism for choosing surrogacy to expand their family.
Online users, some of whom referred to the practice as ‘rich people renting women’s bodies’ and likened it to ‘human trafficking,’ voiced their disapproval, prompting Charlie to hit back in the comments section of their birth announcement.
He wrote: ‘In regards to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby – it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy. It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child.
‘It’s OK to not know the motivations of a surrogate regardless of what you assume.
‘And it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regards to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives.
‘That’s all for now because she just pooped and I need to change her diaper.’
Lily and Charlie, the film director son of A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell, began their romance in 2019 after crossing paths on the set of McDowell’s film Gilded Rage and tied the knot in September 2021.
While announcing the arrival of their baby, the couple chose not to share the reasons behind their decision to use a surrogate.
They expressed their deep gratitude to the unnamed woman who carried their child, noting that words would never express’ how thankful they were, and also thanked ‘everyone who helped us along the way,’ adding, ‘We love you to the moon and back again.’
In her 2017 memoir Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, Lily, daughter of musician Phil Collins, revealed the impact an eating disorder had on her ability to conceive.
She described a cycle of binge eating junk food and then forcing herself to vomit, which disrupted her menstrual cycle, leaving her fearful that she had ‘ruined my chances of having kids.’
Lily and Charlie’s choice of surrogacy echoes a trend among other Hollywood stars.
Kim Kardashian, 44, has been open about using a surrogate for her two youngest children, Chicago and Psalm, due to life-threatening complications during her earlier pregnancies.
Similarly, Amber Heard turned to surrogacy for her daughter, Oonagh, in 2021 after doctors told her she would never be able to have a child of her own.
Rebel Wilson also used a surrogate to welcome her daughter, Royce, after IVF failed.
Fertility expert Dr. Vicken Sahakian, based in Los Angeles, notes that some healthy women opt for ‘social surrogacy’ to avoid interrupting their careers.
She explains, ‘For instance, if you are a model or an actress and your income is based on performing and how you look, pregnancy will ruin that for a year, if not more.’
Lucy Liu, star of Charlie’s Angels, openly discussed her own decision to use a surrogate to have her son, Rockwell Lloyd, in 2015.
At the time, she explained, ‘It just seemed like the right option for me because I was working and I didn’t know when I was going to be able to stop,’ adding that it ‘turned out to be great.’
