Lifestyle

JUMPED THE GUN

Model, 53, Reveals Surprising Fertility Backup Plan

It’s an increasingly popular route for women.

Tamilore OshikanluBreaking News Intern

PublishedJun 5, 2026, 7:04 PM EDT

UpdatedJun 5, 2026, 7:04 PM EDT

Updated Jun 5, 2026, 7:04 PM EDTPublished Jun 5, 2026, 7:04 PM EDT

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Molly Sims is revealing the unconventional fertility plan she put in place before she had even found a partner—as she raced against what she saw as her shrinking window to start a family.

The model and actress opened up about the deeply personal decision during an appearance on Maggie Sellers’ Hot Smart Rich podcast on Wednesday, recalling how a visit to a fertility specialist in her mid-thirties forced her to confront questions about motherhood long before she met her future husband, film producer Scott Stuber.

“I think at 35, 36, I woke up and I’m like, ‘Oh boy, you know, I want a family,’” Sims, 53, said describing a sudden sense of urgency that even caught her mother off guard.

The concern wasn’t unfounded. Female fertility generally declines with age, particularly after 35, as both the quantity and quality of eggs decrease. For Sims, that reality prompted a consultation with fertility specialist Dr. Shahin Ghadir about freezing her eggs.

Instead, she got a recommendation she wasn’t expecting.

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Sims said Ghadir outlined the advantages of freezing embryos instead of eggs. Unlike eggs, embryos can be assessed after fertilization, allowing doctors to better gauge their viability and potential for a future pregnancy.

The catch? Embryos require sperm.

“He goes, ‘Well, but what we can do is we can find new sperm,’” Sims recalled. “And I’m like, wait, I am not freezing embryos.”

After a back and forth, Sims initially offered a tentative “OK“ to the suggestion, before returning to her car, where she said she sat fuming.

But the doctor’s argument—that fertility preservation could serve as an “insurance policy”—stuck with her.

“I just couldn’t get it out of my head,” Sims said.

Eventually, she created a deadline for herself.

“I made a date in the calendar that if I wasn’t with someone, I was going to freeze my eggs,” she explained.

After her appointment, Sims said she met Stuber, and when the date she’d set for herself arrived, she decided to raise the topic with him—even as friends warned the conversation could scare off a relatively new partner.

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“Don’t ask him. He’s gonna totally break up with you,” she recalled being told.

Still, Sims said she had made peace with moving forward either way.

She told Stuber she was considering freezing her embryos, even though the pair weren’t officially together. At the time, she said, fertility preservation wasn’t nearly as widely discussed as it is today, making the conversation feel even more daunting.

To her surprise, Stuber immediately got on board.

“I could do embryos, but, you know, we’re not together yet,” Sims recalled. “He kind of looked at me and he goes, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The response caught Sims so off guard that she briefly became the hesitant one.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’” she said.

The actress said she ultimately moved forward with the process, reminding herself that time was not exactly on her side.

“I am 37 years old. I am considered geriatric, and I haven’t even started,” Sims said, using a term once commonly used in obstetrics for pregnancies in women over 35.

Sims said she underwent two rounds of embryo freezing. In the end, however, the couple went on to conceive all three of their children naturally: sons Brooks Alan, 13, and Grey Douglas, 9, and daughter Scarlett May, 11.

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Tamilore OshikanluBreaking News Intern

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