Mandy Moore is opening up about her journey to having a third child.
On Tuesday, the 42-year-old actress appeared on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, where she shared that she tried in vitro fertilization, or IVF, before she got pregnant with baby No. 3. Mandy explained she wanted “a tiny bit more space potentially between” after having children so close together. And although The Princess Diaries alum conceived her first two sons, August “Gus” Harrison Goldsmith, 5, and Oscar “Ozzie” Bennett Goldsmith, 3, whom she shares with husband Taylor Goldsmith, she decided to undergo one round of IVF as “an insurance policy” and keep an embryo “on ice” until she was ready to have another kid.
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Sadly, things didn’t work out the way she hoped. IVF, unfortunately, had been “unsuccessful” for Mandy:
“So, I did a round of IVF, and it was unsuccessful, we didn’t get any viable eggs, no embryos. And I was like okay, well this just settles that. If this is something that is meant to be, it will happen naturally.”
The Candy singer noted she is “so grateful and so happy with these two guys” — AKA her sons — and “our family will be complete if that’s if that’s the way it’s supposed to unfold.” She continued to stress she was “totally satisfied” and “grateful” for the family she already had after the failed IVF attempt, but then surprise! Mandy unexpectedly got pregnant with her and Taylor’s daughter, Louise “Lou” Goldsmith, whom they welcomed in 2024 — which means there’s only a 23-month age difference between her and Ozzie! Wow! Mandy continued:
“She showed up very, very surprisingly. We were not trying, but obviously we were open to it because of the IVF of it all.”
But having kids pretty much back-to-back-to-back took a toll on Mandy “emotionally.” She expressed:
“I had three kids in three and a half years. I feel like I’m still recovering.”
Oof! It’s hard at times! That said, she is grateful to have had a “relatively easy” pregnancy journey with all of her kids:
“I do feel lucky that pregnancy was very easy for me. I didn’t suffer from any postpartum symptoms and stuff so I feel like I had a relatively easy journey all things considered.”
Wow! No postpartum symptoms at all? That’s quite the jackpot!
We appreciate Mandy’s candidness on such an important topic! Watch her podcast episode (below):
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Drop ’em in the comments!
[Image via Not Skinny But Not Fat/YouTube, Mandy Moore/Instagram]
