I spent much of 2010 on high alert, not only because of Lindsay Lohan’s unceasing crack drama, but because nearly a year ago, Khloe Kardashian announced she was off of birth control. I believed it at the time, and I still believe it. I think Khloe and her husband Lamar Odom have been trying to get pregnant for the past year with no luck. Considering Lamar is already a baby-daddy with some exes, I tend to think Khloe is the one with fertility issues. That makes me even more sympathetic towards her – and she’s already my favorite. God bless giants, you know? Plus, she’s the smartest and funniest of the Kardashian girls, although that’s by no means some great achievement. Khloe is the one I’d want to get drunk with, the one I’d want to be friends with – that’s what I’m saying. So I feel bad for her that she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet, and I hope this is her year. It could be – Fame Pictures is trying to make Khloe’s small “bump” into a Code Red BABY situation.

TV personality Khloe Kardashian did some shopping this afternoon with a girlfriend on January 3, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Khloe wasn’t too happy to see the shutterbugs at the first shopping location but after she cleaned up she allowed images to be taken. It has been rumored in the media that Khloe and her NBA star husband Lamar Odem would be the stars of their own reality show this year. Khloe looks as if she has gained weight over the holidays or could it be she and Lamar are expecting?

[From Fame Pictures]

Yeah… I think it’s a food baby. Plus, she’s a giant, and she needs lots of food to sustain her giant frame. But here’s hoping she’s pregnant or will be soon.

Actually – do you think Khloe’s maybe-fertility issues will be a big part of her new reality spinoff show with Lamar? I do.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

Last August, Celine Dion’s rep confirmed that Celine and her husband Rene Angelil were expecting their second child. Unfortunately, it was a “false positive” and by November, Celine’s people were confirming that she was no longer pregnant. Then, in February of this year, Celine opened up to People Magazine about her struggles with in vitro fertilization. I liked how open and honest Celine was with her struggles – even though she doesn’t owe anyone those personal details about her fertility or anything, I liked that she seemed to approach the situation with an upfront, optimistic nature, even telling multiple media outlets that even though the in vitro hadn’t taken yet, she was still determined to keep trying. And she did! And now her rep confirms to People yet again that Celine is pregnant. WITH TWINS!

Céline Dion’s dream to expand her family has come true.

The singer, 42, is pregnant with twins after undergoing her sixth in-vitro fertilization attempt and turning to acupuncture to improve her chances of a pregnancy, her rep Kim Jakwerth confirms.

Dion, mom to 9-year-old son René-Charles, is 14 weeks along. She will find out the gender of the twins next month.

“We’re ecstatic,” her husband/manager René Angelil tells PEOPLE. “Celine is just hoping for a healthy pregnancy. She was hoping for one baby and the news that we are having two is a double blessing.”

[From People]

That’s good that they waited until Celine was 14 weeks along – about three months is what is generally considered the appropriate time to begin announcing things. I like Celine so much, and I hope this pregnancy goes really well for her, and she stays really healthy. She must be so happy – you know she just worships her son Rene-Charles, but I bet she’s hoping at least one of the babies is a little girl that she can spoil and raise up in her own diva image. A little Celine-Rene! Reline, perhaps? That sounds like an arthritis medication, so maybe not. Congratulations to Celine and Rene!

Update by Celebitchy: There’s a lot of speculation in the comments that Celine and Rene may have used donor eggs and/or sperm to conceive. Celine said in December, 2008, that she was trying to get pregnant again using frozen embryos created from when she underwent IVF to become pregnant with her son, René-Charles, now nine. While she has not specified how she got pregnant with twins, it’s possible she used her own frozen embryos from nine years ago.

Header: Rene and Celine on May 22, 2008. Credit: WENN.

Bossip, Star Magazine and the National Enquirer are all claiming that Mariah Carey has gained weight because she’s undergoing fertility treatments. I mean, sure, I could totally see that as a possibility, but I think all of these reports are related to Mariah and Nick’s recent appearance at a medical center (the same photos in this post), plus all of those stories about how much weight Mariah has gained. I’m not sure why we have the need to paint Mariah as some baby-hungry woman when she’s pretty direct about her ambivalence in interviews.

MARIAH CAREY has secretly resumed fertility treatments in a desperate bid to become a mom, The ENQUIRER has learned. AND that’s the REAL reason the Grammy-winning diva’s weight has soared!

“She’s packed on a lot of weight, but it’s related to the fertility drugs she’s taking,” a close pal told The ENQUIRER. “In fact, she may already be pregnant.”

The 41-year-old singer was beaming after visiting the Southern California Reproductive Center, a top fertility clinic in Beverly Hills, on Mother’s Day with hubby Nick Cannon, 29. Mariah had unsuccessfully sought in vitro treatment at the clinic last year, the source says.

“She’s going to be able to have a baby.”

[From The National Enquirer]

Star Magazine’s piece is pretty much the same thing, only this time the insider says: “Mariah wants a baby ASAP. She’s actually visited fertility specialists a number of times. Mariah is not going to be content until she becomes a mother, one way or another.” If it’s true, then I wish her well and I hope she becomes a mom. And I hope it’s a little girl, just because… you know… another little Mimi. It would be amazing.

Mariah and Nick in LA on May 11, 2010. Credit: Pacific Coast News.

Hey, does everyone remember when Jennifer Lopez claimed that she would “never” consider in vitro fertilization because she’s so “traditional”? She said it in her Elle Magazine cover profile several months ago, claiming: “When it comes to family and relationships, I’m quite traditional. Just because of the way I was raised. And I also believe in God and I have a lot of faith in that, so I just felt like you don’t mess with things like that. And I guess deep down I really felt like either this is not going to happen for me or it is. You know what I mean? And if it is, it will. And if it’s not, it’s not going to.” Well, either this new report from Star Magazine is all kinds of wrong, or J.Lo is a big liar. Star claims that Jennifer is trying to get pregnant again, and she’s doing it with the aid of a prominent fertility doctor:

Most moms would have their hands full with young twins – but Jennifer can’t wait to add to her brood! Jennifer has visited Beverly Hills doctor Jay Goldberg, who deals with fertility issues, several times in the past month, and is considering turning to in-vitro fertilization to make her baby dreams come true.

“Jennifer insists she didn’t do IVF with the twins, even though a lot of people think she did,” a source reveals. “But now she’s having difficulty getting pregnant again.”

So the determined star – whose son Max and daughter Emme are two – has already had numerous blood tests and exams to see if IVF is right for her.

“She’s not going to give up,” the source adds. “Jennifer says she used to think that having two kids was enough. But she and Marc love being parents so much, they’re beyond ready to have more!”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, March 22, 2010]

Now, of course, “fertility doctor” doesn’t always mean in vitro. And it also could be that Star is pulling this story out of thin air. There’s part of me that wonders if Jennifer is really so family-oriented, considering she’s spent most of her time post-birth trying to revive her old triple-threat career. But maybe J.Lo is really trying to have more babies? She recently sat down with OK! Magazine to talk more about her family priorities:

Your private life seems to be your priority now.
I do have more of a private life now. That part of my life has changed. I just didn’t want to be that person anymore.

You seem to be much more relaxed than earlier in your career.
I guess I am. You start out young and confident, thinking you want to be an actress and singer. Then you actually do it and it’s great for a while, but then you have all this success and other things start becoming more important.

Is it hard to juggle work and family life?
I think you have to know what is most important to you. And I think you have to realize that as much as you put into your relationship and your children — but more so. That’s how you balance it. For me, my family is the most important thing and everything else comes after that.

You seem so happy and content with your life, despite how busy you are.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the harder things are, the better things are. Where you’re test, that’s where you get to the next level in your life. You do things because your gut tells you to do them; then they can never be wrong because they’re right for you, no matter how [things are] perceived. The important thing is that you did it and you did it in the best way you could.

[From OK! Magazine]

Do I believe everything that comes out of Jennifer’s mouth? Not really. Because her actions seem to contradict her words, right? I mean, she’s been filming movies and sketchy music videos, she’s been doing musical performances all around the world and she’s made a new album. At some point she’s going to stop talking about how she’s so family-oriented. But, hey, no judgment. While I think she’s generally full of sh-t, I do think she puts a high price on keeping her private life private, especially after the Bennifer 1.0 disaster. But I also think she would sell Marc Anthony for a #1 at the box office.

I mean, is this the face of a woman who would rather be home with her kids?

Jennifer Lopez on March 7, 2010, at the Oscars and post-Oscar parties. Credit: WENN.

It seems like we’ve been doing a lot of Jennifer Lopez stories lately, hasn’t it? I think that’s because Jennifer is trying to relive her glory days as a triple threat (actress, singer and… horrible bodysuit wearer?) by releasing an album and a film within a few months. First, there is Jennifer’s single “Louboutins”. Then there is her film The Back-Up Plan, which is coming out in April. I guess Jennifer is trying out the Megan Fox school of film promotion (promoting her projects months and months in advance), because Jennifer is the cover girl for Elle Magazine (America) for February. The interview has a lot of stuff about The Back-Up Plan, so Jennifer must think she‘s got another Oscar-worthy role on her hands! By the way, what do you think of the cover shot? Totally ‘80s, right? It’s like trashy, vapid and over-the-top are the only tricks in her bag. I do like one of the photos, though (below).

On why she never considered in vitro fertilization, like her character in The Back-Up Plan:“When it comes to family and relationships, I’m quite traditional. Just because of the way I was raised. And I also believe in God and I have a lot of faith in that, so I just felt like you don’t mess with things like that. And I guess deep down I really felt like either this is not going to happen for me or it is. You know what I mean? And if it is, it will. And if it’s not, it’s not going to.”

On the merit of her romantic comedies:
“I think Maid in Manhattan and Monster-in-Law are very layered movies. And that’s why they’re so successful. People don’t like shitty romantic comedies. Nothing that’s shitty is going to make $100 million.”

On hosting a dinner for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor:“She didn’t realize what she was going to symbolize. And it’s always scary to be thrown into it–that’s what I felt like when I did Selena. You’re thrown out there, and all of a sudden you’re not anonymous. You are now known. And that’s a lot to handle. It’s scary at first. Then you get used to it. And so she was in that moment of her life where it’s just like, What the hell? Everybody’s clapping for me. People are writing about me, talking about me, I’m on TV. She was just a judge in New York.”

On competing with twenty-something pop idols as a 40-year-old mom: “This is what I do—what, because I have kids and a husband now I’m not supposed to be
me? I’m a more heightened me if anything. Hyper J.Lo. Everything I wanted before, I want twice as much now. And that doesn’t mean material things; it means to explore more, to think more. Being an artist doesn’t start because you’re 21, and it doesn’t end because you’re 51. You are who you are until the day you die.”

On betrayal: “This is something I haven’t been through once in my life. This is something I’ve been through a few times in my life. Where you really have your eggs in one basket and that breach happens and you know you should go but you’re still in love and you just don’t know what to do. It hits you because it’s not like you’re a cheater, and a liar, and I hate you, and you’re no good, and I’m leaving. It’s not that. It’s like, I’m tormented. Even though you’ve done this and I know it, I still don’t know what to do. I know I should go, but I don’t want to. And that’s why it’s such a f-cked-up thing.”

[From Elle Magazine]

One of my biggest peeves in the world is people who are only selectively “traditional” or “religious”. Here’s Jennifer Lopez, who is on her third marriage telling us that she’s too “traditional” to do in vitro. I guess she didn’t care about tradition when she was filing for divorce two times. Now, I’m not judging her for having crappy taste in men – I’m judging her hypocrisy for playing the “traditional” card while her lifestyle and history is anything but. Anyway… who do you think “betrayed” her? My guesses are Puff Daddy and Ben Affleck.

Elle Magazine cover courtesy of I’m Not Obsessed and additional photos from Elle online.

Ordinarily, I would have absolutely no desire to talk about any of this, simply because even celebrity gossip needs to draw a line between what is fun, snarky nonsense, and what is just tragic and personal. I saw the reports last night that Celine Dion is no longer pregnant. Celine either had a miscarriage or, as is being reported currently, the in vitro “didn’t take”. I thought to myself “how sad” and decided not to write about it, thinking that Celine and her family would not be releasing any kind of further statement about it. I was wrong. Rene Angelil, Celine’s husband, gave an extensive and interesting interview to The Montreal Journal about their in vitro struggles, and how they’re determined to try again and again, if necessary:

Céline Dion isn’t pregnant after all – but will keep on trying for a second child.

“We are living the reality of the majority of couples who have to use [IVF]. The process can be long and arduous,” Dion’s husband René Angélil, 67, told the Canadian paper Journal de Montreal of their failed attempts. “But today, we are full of confidence. Celine is more determined than ever.”

Forty-one-year-old Dion’s doctor announced that she was pregnant via in vitro fertilization very early in the process, and it is now revealed that the embryos transferred in August and October were unsuccessful.

“Dr. Zev Rosenwaks believed that the procedure/pregnancy took, but that wasn’t the case. We found out some days later. We were shocked,” said Angélil. They quickly tried again to get pregnant, but were unsuccessful, he added, “But you know Céline. She doesn’t let go.”

The couple have one “extraordinary” son, René-Charles, born in 2001, who was also conceived with the help of Rosenwaks, director of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Center Medical Center.

“I admire all the women who go through such a tough process. Since April, she has undergone numerous examinations, multiple hormone injections and blood tests,” Angélil told the paper, revealing the couple will go to New York this weekend for a third try. “Céline and I didn’t get discouraged … we put our faith in life and in the stars.”

[From People]

God bless. And I mean that. In the scope of celebrity parents, Celine and Rene seem wonderful, and utterly devoted to their son, and they would make great parents to another child. I hope everything works out in the end, and the in vitro will eventually “take”. I do wonder if Celine and Rene would consider adoption, though, if the in vitro doesn’t work out. Maybe they already have considered it, and plan to adopt if in vitro doesn’t work.

Celine Dion is seen leaving her hotel in New York City on October 14, 2009. She even stopped and signed autographs for the flood of fans waiting for her. Credit: INFphoto.com

Janet Jackson has one of the worst summers of her life, or anyone else’s life. Not only did Janet’s beloved brother Michael die in June, but shortly after, she and her boyfriend of seven years Jermaine Dupri split up. Janet also turned 43 years old this year – and In Touch is reporting that Janet seemed to think Jermaine was her best chance at becoming a mother. According to their source, Janet had her eggs frozen when she and Jermaine were together, and she’s heartbroken at the realization that Jermaine has already moved on with another woman:

The summer of 2009 has been particularly rough on Janet Jackson. First, there was the shocking death of her brother Michael in june. Now, her longtime, on-again/off-again boyfriend Jermaine Dupri, has been seen with another woman.

On August 14, the 36-year-old music executive was spotted getting cozy with Deal or No Deal model Claudia Jordan, 36, at the airport in his hometown of Atlanta.

“They looked like a couple,” a fellow passenger on their flight to LA tells In Touch. “During the flight, they were flirty and he seemed very into her. He was making her laugh and smile. There was never a moment when they didn’t talk.”

An insider says that Jermaine “has moved on pretty easily” and that Janet’s hopes of having a baby with him are now dashed. Janet, 43, had hoped to raise a family with Jermaine and recently revealed that her that her doctor encouraged her to freeze her eggs for a future pregnancy.

“I’d love to have children,” she’s said. “It’s just up to Jermaine, what he wants to do.”

Yet as recently as February, Jermaine was dropping honts that his relationship was in trouble. At a party in Beverly Hills, he brushed off a question about marriage and babies saying “That is future thinking.”

According to the insider, even after dating for seven years, Jermaine still wasn’t ready to commit to Janet and wanted to keep playing the field: “He isn’t ready for a family or to settle down.”

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, September 14 2009]

I do think Janet really loved Jermaine, and I kind of think In Touch is giving him a raw deal. I always got the sense that Jermaine treated Janet like a queen, but that they had problems before Michael’s death. I’m not so sure if Janet even fancied getting married and settling down – she’s so intensely private, so no one really knows. My guess is that she was as gun-shy with the idea of settling down as Jermaine was.

In Touch also reports that Janet is sticking by Michael’s kids, and that she spends a lot of time with them and her mother, Katherine Jackson. Janet wants to give the kids “a sense of normalcy” – and I think Janet is probably the best person for that task.

Yesterday, Page Six reported Janet Jackson will be giving an exclusive, tell-all interview in a cover story for Harper’s Bazaar at some point this fall or winter. It will be Janet’s first interview since Michael’s death. I’m very interested in what Janet has to say.

Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri are shown in the header on 6/30/08. They are also shown below at LaGuardia airport in NY on 3/24/09. Credit: Fame Pictures

Great gobs of Gucci. Naomi Campbell wants offspring. That is a scary thought. The glamazon is ready to reproduce and has undergone a procedure to enable her to become a mother.

She says, “Now I can have a child I would like one. I’m even willing to have one without a father. I know that I am ready. I know that with a baby I would change, I’d calm down. With a child you cannot accept compromises. You have to give your full self.”

[Starpulse]

Exactly what type of surgery she had done to give her the opportunity to have children is a secret. All that is known is that she had a “condition” which prevented her from being able to have a baby. She is also considering artificial insemination. A friend of Campbell states that she is ready to take on the impregnation process and child rearing alone if she cannot find a suitable mate.

“She sees one solution is to have artificial insemination. Naomi is a strong woman and thinks she can give the child everything he or she needs without a man. She has lots of close friends who she could rely on for help and she is financially secure. Naomi is aware that her biological clock is ticking.”

[Fametastic UK]

I pity the male she chooses to impregnate her. Should she go that route. I am not sure how it will work out, but I am guessing it is going to end with the eating of her mate circa “Species.” Let us pray she has a turkey baster baby.

Naomi Campbell is shown at the CFDA Fashion Awards on 6/2/08. She is wearing a vintage Yves Saint Laurent pantsuit in honor of the recently departed designer. Thanks to WENN.

There’s been a lot of press in the last year or so talking about various celebrities and their struggles to get pregnant. I know that it’s an incredibly common problem, and several of the commentors on here have talked about their struggles with fertility. It’s good to know there’s support in numbers, and that celebrities aren’t immune to the struggles of everyday people. Helena Bonham Carter and her husband Tim Burton struggled with infertility after having their first child, four-year-old Billy Ray. Yeah the name surprised me a little too. Bonham Carter, 41, assumed that she wasn’t ovulating, so she began a course of treatment with Clomid, which is designed to stimulate egg production. It turns out she was still ovulating, and had a bad reaction to the Clomid, which is apparently not that uncommon.

“‘It stressed me out beyond belief. Hormonally, I was all over the shop and I got really low emotionally. Lots of people don’t have that reaction, but on the internet I found a Clomid Club, with people who react to the stuff discussing it online,’ she said. After going to a North London acupuncturist who supplied a variety of teas to ‘build my strength up,’ Bonham Carter, also tried Tui Na (literally ‘push and grasp’), an acupuncture-related Chinese massage for patients who prefer to avoid needles.

“But with her biological clock ticking loudly in her ear, she realized Oriental medicine wasn’t the solution she’d hoped for – and the next viable option was In vitro fertilization. ‘We might have gone for a round of IVF,’ Bonham Carter said. ‘There was an argument for just having one child, because we thought if that’s the way it’s meant to be, so be it.’ But the pregnancy came naturally, under the intense pressure of making a movie musical.

“While being directed by Burton alongside Johnny Depp in the title role of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd, Bonham Carter discovered she was pregnant . ‘I was working so hard at the time,’ she recalled. ‘The first three months being pregnant while filming, I felt totally spaced out. You do need to multi-task with acting. You’ve got to remember your marks, your lines, singing, everything, and actually – you have no brain! Suddenly your own brain is growing another person’s brain, so yours goes defunct,’ said Bonham Carter who is due in December. ‘It wasn’t ideal, but then I was so happy to be pregnant.’”

[From People]

Helena Bonham Carter is super lucky to have gotten pregnant naturally. Though I don’t know a ton about fertility issues, I can’t help but wonder if it was just a lucky fluke, or if the Clomid and alternative therapies might have worked in conjunction and helped her out. I can’t imagine how stressful and exhausting it would be to film a movie while pregnant… though one would hope that if your husband is the director, he’d cut you some extra slack. And massage your feet from his director’s chair.

Bonham Carter also has been craving Marmite during the last few months of her pregnancy. I was pretty sure that was some kind of animal, probably related to sloths or lemurs, but it turns out it’s a “British and New Zealand spread made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing. The British version is sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful taste. This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company’s marketing slogan: ‘Love it or hate it.’” Thanks, Wikipedia. I’m glad to know Helena Bonham Carter isn’t eating sloths. Although that could be a kind of alternative therapy too. Probably for insomnia though.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Helena and Tim at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition on June 6th. Header image at the “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix” London Premiere on July 3rd. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Martha Stewart’s daughter Alexis has been spending over $28,000 a month of fertility treatments in an attempt to get pregnant. Alexis is 42, and says she was so busy with her life and her career that she never stopped to think about how much time is passing. Celebrities get pregnant all the time at what seems like any old age, and we don’t really hear as much about the people that can’t have babies. Alexis says she’ll do whatever it takes to have a child, and has gone as far as giving herself her shots on the street if necessary.

“Even though her eggs are ‘dry and crusty,’ Alexis Stewart is determined to get pregnant – so determined, she spends $28,000 a month on fertility treatments. Stewart, 42, started the difficult process last year, and opened up to People in July about how lucky she is to be able to afford the high-tech procedures and special treatments. On Tuesday, she talks to Oprah Winfrey about the emotionally and financially draining process.

“Having a baby wasn’t always a priority for Stewart, and now that she’s ready to be a mom, she tells Winfrey it’s almost too late. ‘[We] get distracted because now we have jobs, and now we have other things to do. Medicine seems miraculous – you can do anything you want,’ she says. ‘Movie stars have babies late. It seems all possible, but you don’t hear the stories of the people who can’t have a baby.’”

[From People]

As a feminist, I kind of have a problem with the whole notion that women better get to the baby having or we’ll dry up. But biology doesn’t really agree with my feminist principles, and it is what it is. Alexis was married to one of the lawyers that unsuccessfully defended her mother from 1997 – 2004, and has been using a sperm donor to get pregnant.

“Over the summer, Stewart told People she’ll do whatever it takes to make Martha Stewart, her mom, a grandmother. ‘Twice, I’ve given myself shots on the street. I’m much more interested in taking my medication than in what anyone might think about me,’ she said. Stewart has since had three failed egg implantations. ‘Last month, I had no eggs that were viable, so I’m sort of back to square one at the moment,’ she tells Winfrey, adding that she tries not to get too emotional about it.

“‘When I have to think about my other options, then I will do that,’ she says. ‘But at the moment, I can only think about this option.’ Stewart also says financial and emotional backing from her mom helps. ‘She’s very supportive. She tells me it will happen all the time,’ she says. ‘Because she wants grandchildren?’ Winfrey asks. Stewart’s response: ‘Desperately.’”

[From People]

I don’t know, but I would guess Martha’s footing a good portion of the bill herself. But maybe that’s because Oprah kept billing the show “This woman is spending $28,000 a month to make Martha Stewart a grandmother,” which made it sound like it was all about Martha. I’m not really a huge Martha fan – she seems pretty cold to me – but I’m guessing any baby that’s lucky enough to be born into that family will be pretty well taken care of for the rest of their lives. And have access to Martha’s scrapbooking wing in her house. I’d try to be her grandkid just for that.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Martha Stewart and Alexis are shown on 4/28/06 at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Thanks to PRPhotos.