WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN -- Episode 20092 -- Pictured: Chrissy Teigen -- (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images)
These days, former model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen is balancing being a mother of four. She and her husband, John Legend, went from parenting Luna and Miles to expanding their family by two more. Teigen gave birth to daughter Esti in January. Then, in June, the couple welcomed son Wren via a surrogate.
Teigen recently opened up to PEOPLE about her surrogacy journey, including why she wants to maintain a lifelong friendship with her surrogate, Alexandra.
The star added that they “talk all the time,” especially in a “nice little text exchange.” Additionally, Chrissy Teigen said she sends Alexandra “little pictures behind the scenes.”
“I told her at the beginning of this journey, I wanted someone who would be there for birthday parties and throughout life,” Chrissy said. Adding, “I wanted to meet her children, and I wanted my children to be friends with her children. And they really genuinely are, which has been a really beautiful thing to see.”
For Chrissy, the atmosphere of her expanded family has been “fantastic.” This year’s double growth in their family comes after the married couple lost their son Jack in 2020. Though she at first said he died in a miscarriage, last year, she clarified that it was an abortion to “save [her] life for a baby that had absolutely no chance.”
Teigen’s former surrogate, Alexandra, entered the picture after the couple contacted a surrogacy agency in 2021. Their initial inquiry suggested two surrogates at once, but Chrissy decided to try to carry again after a therapy session. After restarting the IVF process, she became pregnant with Esti.
At the same time, they met Alexandra. The first embryo the couple had implanted in Alex didn’t survive. While Chrissy was entering the “safe zone” of her pregnancy, Alexandra became pregnant with their second embryo — eventually giving birth to Wren Alexander.
“…I think the way I operate with anybody in our house, whether it’s nannies or my mother living with us or my friends that are in the house or security or whatever, I want an atmosphere where everybody feels really comfortable in our home and that extended to [Alexandra],” Chrissy Teigen told PEOPLE. “I wanted her to feel like she could take off her shoes and kick up her feet on our couch. We could watch TV together, and my daughter could play with her daughter up in her room. It felt like she could come over anything, and I really feel like we do still have that relationship. It’s been really wonderful.”
The published home chef also spoke about the impact of her close friendship with Alexandra. She acknowledged that different families choose what works best for them in their surrogacy journey. But she’s “really happy” her and John’s “turned out the way it turned out.”
“It felt very much like a village. It felt very much like the way people in my mother’s family raised their children when they were literally living in the villages of Thailand. It just feels like such good camaraderie around each other and warmth and love.”
Teigen says she doesn’t believe in “hoarding all this love” for herself. Instead, she prefers to spread and share it.
“I don’t get jealous when my children love on somebody else or hug them. To me, more love is more love and that’s what I’ve always wanted and it’s been really working out for us. We’re so lucky.”
