Maria Menounos is expecting her first baby after a decade of struggling with infertility

TODAY 2/7/2023 Rachel Paula Abrahamson

Maria Menounos and her husband Keven Undergaro are expecting their first baby, after a years-long struggle with infertility.

“Just after a decade of trying everything, we are so grateful to the beautiful family helping us conceive our baby,” Menounos, 44, told People on Feb. 7. “Keven, my dad and I are all beyond excited for this soul to come into our lives. What a blessing.”

In 2021, the entertainment reporter opened up to TODAY.com about the surrogacy process. At the time, she was feeling frustrated.

“Every psychic says, ‘You’re having twins,’” Menounos said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m having nothing. Nothing is working.’”

“We had an amazing surrogate and we loved her,” she continued. “But our fertility doctor told us that it was never going to work. We tried and tried and and tried and tried.”

Menounos said the failed attempts were taking an emotional toll on both her and Undergaro, 55.

“You start to think, ‘Am I too old? Am I too tired? Is this a sign? Is it a message that we’re not supposed to have kids?’” she said.

In May 2021, her mother, Litsa Menounos, died after a long battle with stage 4 brain cancer.

“I lost my mom, we lost our dog and then losing the surrogate was a loss,” she explained at the time. “Trying to have kids in the midst of that would have been a lot. And so we believe that it’s God protecting us. And it’s going to happen at that right time.”

Keven Undergaro and Maria Menounos (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic)

In 2016, Menounos documented her unsuccessful IVF treatments in a series of heart-wrenching Snapchats. A year later, the former E! host was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and the couple decided to put IVF on hold.

“We definitely want children,” Undergaro told People in 2018. “But I’m very concerned about her going through a pregnancy, and I would like to explore (using a) surrogate because her body has been through hell. I want a baby desperately, but I don’t want it to be at the risk of her health.”

Menounos confirmed to Entertainment Tonight in 2019 they were moving forward with the surrogacy process.

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