Canadian actress Lisa Ray and her husband Jason Dehni have become parents through surrogacy to twin girls.
Known for her role in Deepa Mehta’s Water (2005), Lisa took to Twitter to share the pictures of her precious little girls with a caption “Stand back world: here comes Soufflé (Sufi plus Soleil) My girls know the future is female. Thank you for all your support and blessings.”
Stand back world: here comes Soufflé (Sufi plus Soleil) My girls know the future is female. Thank you for all your support and blessings. Takes a village (and thank you @bombaytimes @Bazinga_Ent) pic.twitter.com/tsZmeAcr3M
— Lisa Ray (@Lisaraniray) September 17, 2018
The 46-year-old actress also wrote about how there’s a stigma attached to surrogacy and said that if more people start talking about it, it will eventually fade away.
“Our daughters, Sufi and Soleil Ray-Dehni were born via surrogate in Tbilisi, Georgia this June. It’s been an arduous and interesting experience. Having been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer, in 2009 which requires me to be on a lifelong dose of medication pre-empted the possibility for me to carry children myself. Fortunately, technology has progressed where there are choices and new possibilities for having children.”
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Explaining her struggle, Lisa further wrote, “My husband and I decided to pursue surrogacy. India was the obvious choice. We consulted a reputed fertility doctor but a week before we could begin, India outlawed commercial surrogacy. We were crushed. While I understand the pressing need to regulate the industry and prevent exploitation of surrogate mothers, it was a case of –literally- throwing out the baby with the bath water. But I am nothing if not determined. My husband and I were advised we could continue the process in India, there were ‘ways’ but we did not want to bring our children into the world under a cloud of uncertainty. And so we began a tough, at times frustrating journey. We hired an agency to help, had an unsuccessful attempt in Mexico, spent a lot of money, emotional resources and sleepless nights. But as a cancer survivor, I believe firmly in overcoming the odds. And with my husband’s support and a few close friends sometimes that means shutting off people who say ‘you can’t’ and focusing on the faith that it’s possible- not easy- but possible. Finally, we settled on the country of Georgia, where the surrogacy process is legal, transparent, regulated and overall a beneficial process for both sides.”
Lisa concluded the note by adding, “I can’t wait to bring our daughters to our home in Mumbai. I love to see Jason with them, growing into his new role as a father, holding them, changing diapers on the weekend, with a burp cloth I got him which is embroidered with ‘Men Who Change Diapers, Change the World’. I wanted to share our intimate story because I believe there is a lot of misunderstanding about surrogacy and the reasons some people choose to do it. I wanted to share our struggle and triumph. Having been open about my cancer journey and received so much unconditional support, sharing this moment of happiness feels right. Hopefully, our story can give hope to others struggling to have kids. Life throws you both challenges and miracles and I’m unspeakably grateful for my miracle daughters.”