The Ben Mulroney Show - Freezing your eggs at 40. An important conversation with a modern woman.

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

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You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in-store and online, though some may vary. Time for a very important conversation about fertility. We're living in a time where technology is allowing women who want to postpone pregnancy to be able to do just that. But it's not necessarily a straight line. between that decision and having a baby. And there are pitfalls and there are stresses

and there are questions and regrets and all sorts of stuff. And I know that because I'm sitting next to somebody that I've known for a very long time who's going through that right now. My good friend Morgan Hoffman, we knew each other on E-Talk. We did. And now we know each other from The Morning Show

here at Global. So welcome to the show. Thank you for being here. Thanks for asking me to be here. Okay. So when I met you, you were, I mean, you still look young to me. you're always young to me. But when we met, you were how old?

I was probably 24. It was probably a bit older than you thought. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, 24, but still, you know, and you had your site set on building a career. Absolutely. I mean, entertainment world, that's all I wanted to do, didn't know anyone in the industry going into it, worked behind the scenes first, worked my way up just to get into that

299 Queen Street, much music building. You know, I started there, which is so cool. And then it took a couple of years before I got on camera. And then I was just very, very focused on my career. And it also involved travel. So I was busy for the next 12 years. 12 years. Okay.

So at what point did you start having conversations with yourself about, hey, maybe at some point I may want to be a mom? Okay. I actually really, I never said I don't want children. I was never that person. It was not even in my thinking process whatsoever, even in long-term relationships. I was in a seven-year relationship. Wasn't ready. So I was in a relationship at 38.

It ended a couple of years later. and then I thought, you know, maybe I should, maybe I should do something about this. Maybe I should just look into, like I was still very uneducated as to how much age can affect egg quality and egg quantity. So I just went to go talk to a fertility doctor just to get an idea of my ovarian reserve and then, whoa, wake-up call. Okay, so what was the wake-up call? When they drop knowledge on you, what was that knowledge and how did you feel walking out of that meeting? Okay, so I go in and first you have to get tested for your AMH levels, you have to get blood work, your ultrasound. They want to check your uterus, your follicles count.

She goes, you're looking pretty good for your age. I'm like, great, feeling good, right? And then she says, so egg quality and egg quantity changes after 35 and drastically declines after 40, 41 if you're lucky. And I was 39. I was six months away shot, you know, of turning 40. And I was like, oh, she's like, are you dating anyone? I said, no.

She's like, do you want to get a sperm donor? Because embryos statistically have a higher chance of. Oh, if they're already fertilized. Yeah. They have a higher chance during the thawing process. And you can kind of tell where you're at with an embryo versus frozen eggs. Frozen eggs, you know how many you retrieve. You have to get a certain amount that are mature, but you don't actually know if they're good or not. So anyway, so she goes, so you kind of have to make a decision. And I was like, what? I thought the whole point was freeze them, so I don't have to make this. Right. You have to, well, you have to decide. Like, what do you want to? Did you want to freeze them? Took me six months. I spiraled hardcore. I questioned why I focused on my career. I was very mad. I completely.

I compared myself to everyone else, which I never used to do. I was like, oh, I screwed up my life. Now I have to spend $15,000 to freeze eggs because I didn't meet somebody or because I spent too much time and didn't know enough about my body. And then once I got over that and I decided to do it a month after turning 40, I felt so much better. So I remember a few years ago, there was a spate of older, but not old, female celebrities in Hollywood who were getting pregnant.

Yeah. Right? And none of them were saying what was probably true, which was they probably had a lot of that medical intervention help. Absolutely. All of it, all of it I'm here for. But the fact that they were, and again, I don't have any proof of it. But, you know, come on.

Like, we're all walking around the world and we all, we hear the stories of women who have a tough time at 35 getting pregnant. Meanwhile, these women at 45. Oh, yeah. And they're having triplets, right? Yeah. Like, I was like, they could be helping these women out. Instead, what they're doing is they're presenting a false possibility, right?

And I got to wonder, did any, and you worked in entertainment, did any of those stories inform that false sense of security that you might have been living with? I have wondered why I haven't taken my age more seriously when it comes to my fertility journey. I have questioned this because I feel like I'm 27, even at 40. And I'm like, why do I, why was I not more upset about this or more pressure? And I have said to people, I work in an industry where not even just even my co-workers are having children later, but I'm surrounded about telling stories about celebrities who are having children 45, 50.

Yeah. And I'm like, I have time. Yeah, no. I really thought that. I thought it was a terrible disservice that rather than be honest and say, this is the path that I took. And I'm very privileged in my position. And I was how much it cost. Oh, yeah.

It's expensive. I was desperate at this point my life. I really, at this point I realized I need to have a baby. was going to do anything. And I have the means to do it. And here's what it meant. It would have been a wake-up call for a lot of women who pay attention to those magazines. And, like, you didn't just pay attention.

You were one of the people reporting on this stuff. I'm reporting. And if I had no more, if I knew, I would have froze my eggs at 30. I would have frozen my eggs. You know, we weren't, listen, we weren't having those conversations 10 years ago, not as publicly or openly as we are now. But yeah, that would have been cool. Yeah.

Well, the questions were like, it's, I think people need to wake up in men. as well for different reasons, but I think it is possible to have everything, but you can't have it all at the same time. Wonderful way to put that. Yeah. It's absolutely correct. You can't, it's kind of controversial to freeze your eggs at 40, and I was like, why is this controversial?

Because your egg quality quantity changes, right? It doesn't mean you can't do it. It's just not going to be as easy. Yeah. Yeah. And you're looking at multiple cycles. And to be honest with you, me, this is me personally, I would not have been a good parent in my 20s and 30s.

I know this. That's fine. Yeah. And I was in good relationships. It was, I just was very focused on myself. And now all of a sudden, you know, at 38, 39, I was like, okay, maybe I could be a parent. And then wake up call. So, yeah, so you make that decision.

And it's a big decision. I'm going to freeze my eggs. Huge. I'm sure there was a moment where you thought to yourself, I'm going to do this. And that possibility is guaranteed to me. But it's not. Oh, my goodness, it's not. No.

And that's the thing that will keep me up at night sometimes. You were spending all this money. pumping your body full of hormones, you're doing 10 to 12 days of injectable medication. You know, I've had, I mean, I'll share. Yeah. Is it weird to share? How many? So after my first cycle, I had 17 eggs retrieved, which is phenomenal for my age.

Only eight were mature. So we froze eight. And, you know, my doctor said I want 20 to 25. So there is just this period where I was feeling really good about how my numbers and then reality hits and you're like, oh, okay, so I'm going to have to do multiple cycles. But yeah, at the end of the day, nothing is guaranteed. And I have questioned whether I've made the right decision for six months now. But I guess the silver lining or the way to look at it positively is everyone in their journey to become parents has a struggle.

And it's unique to them, right? And this chapter is certainly unique to the era that we're living in. But this will be the story that you tell. Yeah. She'll be the story when you have your little baby. And I think we all have to live in that world where there is going to be a baby at the end of it, right? You have to. You have to.

And listen, I could still have, I could conceive naturally in the next year, even in the next two years. There's a possibility. The statistics aren't on my side, but it's a possibility. But, and I've met so many women now who've reached out to me around the world. Really? I think I would know Ben. Yeah, because you've been posting this. I had no idea.

So I decided to post this because I start seeing women talking about how they're even the fact that at 3940, they haven't met someone, they're not going to have kids. They're too old to freeze their eggs. And I thought, well, wait a minute. My doctor just said, I can still do it. And I'm 40 right now. After two cycles, I have 15 eggs. Maybe people aren't as educated as I thought. You know, I know I wasn't. That's kind of why I wanted to share it. Daily, daily, I get messages from women just saying, thank you. I was embarrassed to talk about this. No one in my life knows I'm doing this. You're the first person I've shared this with. It's pretty wild because there's a group of women who are successful. We spent a lot of time in their career and they, you know, maybe got therapy,

did the right thing. And now they're having troubles conceiving naturally. Have you, have you, can I, well, listen, we're in the trust. Go for it. We're in it now. Are you in a relationship right now? I'm not right now. Okay. I'm not right now. So, and would you consider, like if you're getting to that, that point of, let's call it, point of no return? Yeah. Where your doctor says, you know, you're about to fall off that, that statistical cliff. Sure. Would, would you consider having a baby on your own. And on that note, the axe hangs, but it doesn't fall. You'll answer that after the break. We're going to continue this conversation with Morgan Hoffman. Lots to get to. Welcome back. And I am continuing my conversation with my good friend Morgan Hoffman,

with whom I have, we've, our careers have been intertwined for kind of 20 years now. And, and this new phase in her journey on realizing that, you know, maybe time was running out on having a baby and she chose on the off chance that she would decide to have a baby to freeze her eggs, but that presents its own challenges. And I was asking Morgan right before the break, if she finds herself ready to have a baby, but she's not in a relationship. What does Morgan do? So I never even remotely thought about this until people started reaching out to me when I was sharing my fertility journey about freezing my eggs or said, just so you know, there's a growing number of women who are deciding to become single mothers by choice. If that's something you want to do, let me know. And I never

even thought about it. And listen, if I'm 43, 44, 44, 45, and I'm not with somebody who I want to make a huge decision to have children with, I love that I'm giving myself the option. I'm not going to sit here right now. I've never been someone who's like, I really want to have a baby. If the right situation happens, great. But I love that that's an option too now. Look, I love getting into debates with people who have decided. I don't want kids. Never going to have kids. And they, and I find it an adorable conversation because they're so self-assured in their position. And it's great that they don't want them. But to say, like I've been on both sides of the fence.

I've been the guy who didn't have kids and I had a blast. And now I'm the guy with kids. I have no money and I don't sleep and I stress more than they ever did. And I wouldn't trade this for anything. This is what I hear. And so when they tell me that they know what I, I know what they're talking about, but they have no idea what I'm talking about. And so I commend you for being open to it.

I commend you to be open and taking the steps required. Now, one thing we haven't talked about is your family's involvement in this. Yeah. So I didn't really tell anybody for my first cycle. No, no, no. Let's take a step back. What do you mean? What, what?

Were you getting pressure from your mom? No. From your sister. No. No. No, I'm telling you. Friend group. Nothing.

Let me tell you, I'm the oldest of five children. My mom had five kids by the time she was 31. So I came from a big family. And there are five kids. I have two that just got married, two siblings. There's five of us, like I said, and nobody has grandkids yet. So my mom is like, listen. So she helped me.

I'm going to be out. She helped me with my second cycle in terms of financial support. Yeah. Because she just sort of have decided, oh, well, you're all just going to have dogs. And now, and now that she's ecstatic that I'm doing this. I think she thought I was going to have kids. That's great. So no, no pressure.

I'm from a weird family where even though I grew up in a big family, no one's ever pressured me or some of the other kids. Yeah. Well, we want to hear from you. If you have a story to share, I mean, Morgan is helping a lot of women out there as she's being honest and raw on her social media, sharing the ups and downs and the roller coaster that is this journey of freezing her eggs. And if you've got a story to share, give us a call at 416-8-70-60-600 or 1-3-8-225 talk. Or if you've got questions for this wonderful woman who's going through this really interesting thing, we'd appreciate it. So talk to me about the decision to start sharing this on social media.

So I recorded a couple of things of me, you know, inserting the needles into my stomach. That was all new for me. I kind of showed a bit of behind the scenes and then never posted it, never thought I would share it. And I started seeing people being very sad online that they hadn't met someone. And I just thought, well, listen, I just had a great conversation with my fertility doctor. Maybe I need to share this. All I wanted people to know was just go talk to a fertility doctor. Yeah.

Just go see what your chances are. To think you're 40 and it's over is devastating for people. and not everyone is a good candidate to freeze their eggs, but just go talk to a doctor. That's all I wanted to do. And now it's turned into, they think I'm an expert. Which is kind of cool.

Sometimes when somebody pivots on their social media. Oh, I've pivoted hardcore. So it takes a while to find your community, for the community to find you. Yeah. Initially, was there, like were people judgy? Okay. My first video went viral,

which is actually cool. I wasn't expecting that. And then I thought, oh, well, I'm going to keep this up. And then I would slowly get people chiming in, sharing. And then I'm not going to lie, within the last couple of weeks, I've had some videos really take off. And people are really sharing their stories, sharing on my page that they were 43, 44, when they had their first kid, when they froze their eggs. And so it's been really great. It's been overwhelmingly positive.

But, yeah, to share originally, I would. cry sometimes. I was overwhelmed. I thought it was a mistake I was making. I thought people in the industry would judge me. I thought people wouldn't want to. You just think crazy things. I'm so private. You don't think I'm very, very private. So even to be doing this, it's been like, well, we've got a text from a woman named Gina asking if you'd ever consider adopting a child. Oh, I've definitely had some people reach out to me and ask about that as well. I think the thing is, like I said, I'm doing this for future preservation. I'm doing this so that, If I'm 44, 43, and this, everything lines up right and these eggs work, then great.

But I don't want a kid so bad right now that I'm like, I'm going to do anything necessary. But listen, if that time comes, I'm open to everything. It's like surrogacy as well? Oh, yeah. If I had enough money, please. I'm not somebody who needs to hold my own baby. I have a very close friend. That's all she wanted to do.

I'm like, someone can have my baby. It's okay. The amount of celebrities who got surrogates who gave us, you know, very specific. reasons as to why they could not carry their own child. I was like, come on, man. You could help so many people if you're just honest. Instead, you're making up these, like, it was like Donald Trump and his bone spurs. Like, come on, come on.

Of course you're going there. That's the show now. I know. How do you feel society is set up to help women concede? Enough time off, enough supports? That's a good question. I think for a certain age, it makes sense if you have a partner. I think when you're going through this journey alone,

I've had wonderful support from my bosses on the morning show. But yeah, I mean, I think I'm lucky. I've been able to tell my bosses like, I need time off. I need to do this. They're wonderful. But yeah, there's always a little bit of interesting judgment from others when you're doing this at my age and you're doing it by yourself. Well, we got a call, so why don't you put on the cans?

And we're going to welcome Barb into the conversation. Barb, thank you so much for calling. You have a question for Morgan? See, I just have a comment. I was listening to Morgan's journey, and I'm so glad that she's doing this. I was 40, 30 years ago, and at that time, the fertility process wasn't as far gone as it is today. So unfortunately, myself and my husband, I did find a partner when I was in my early 40s, but we weren't able to have children.

So I would encourage women, you know, also I was career-oriented, didn't think I wanted children. But as you get older, you realize, you know, number one, who's going to take care of you in your older years? And two, it is nice to have a child. And it's that procreation thing. And yes, there's maybe trials and tribulations with having children and working with them. But at the end of the day, if the opportunity presents itself, do it because you never know what life brings you. Oh, I couldn't agree more. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy that you called in and that you're sharing your story. That's exactly how I feel. I'm doing this

because I realize, you know, one day I might want to have children and I'm feeling stronger and stronger towards that decision. So if the right partner and the right situation presents itself, I want to not have any regrets. So I love that you're sharing this. And the other thing with Morgan is that my husband and I are now at that stage of our lives where we're transitioning our business. And given today's tax processes, etc., you can only transition to children, not nieces and nephews, without huge tax implications. Yeah, we've talked about that on this show.

Thank you for bringing it back up. I'm going to have to let you go because I want time. Thank you for the call, Barb. Yeah, so wonderful. Thank you. I want to ask. We've got time for one more call. So, Brad, tell me what you're thinking in about one minute. Okay, real quick, Ben. Thanks. Also, quickly agree with your thought process in terms of people who say no to kids don't know what they're saying no to. Over to Morgan. My children, 27 and 24, IVF kids, both frozen for a year.

Yes, I love hearing that. So pumped. Do they enjoy the cold? Oh, no, they don't need a winter jacket, which is kind of cool. My daughter was the recipient of the Brian Maroonie scholarship at St. of X. Heck yeah. Both my kids were frozen for a year.

So Morgan, you're on the right track. Oh, my gosh. You just made my day. Thank you so much. Thank you, Brad. And congratulations to your daughter. That's awesome. Yeah, look at that.

What a small world, huh? Morgan, I want to thank you so much. Ben. Thank you for your courage for putting this out there and taking this journey. And then coming on here and sharing it, please, if there are ever any milestones along the way, please come back. I know our audience would love to hear it from you. And I'm glad. And if I can just say, the fact that you are this measured and this, because you're the type of person who should be a mom.

Oh, thank, Ben. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks. Hello there. Thursdays on Global. I'm Madeline Matlock. She's the lawyer with the legendary name.

Don't underestimate Miss Matlock. This woman's a shark. You know it, baby. The one you can trust, even if she has to bend the rules. Things aren't always as black and white as they seem. To crack a case. This is how I get things done. Emmy winning actress Kathy Bates is Matlock.

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