Married with Children's Katey Sagal welcomes a daughter

Former Married With Children star Katey Sagal, 52, (Boston Legal) and her husband Kurt Sutter, 43, welcomed their first child together on Wednesday, January 10th.

Esmé Louise was carried and given birth to by a surrogate, and no birth stats were released. Esmé joins older siblings Jackson James, 10, and Sarah Grace, 12, from Katey’s previous marriage.

Esmé’s a long awaited baby – unfortunately, Katey suffered a miscarriage in 1989, followed by daughter Ruby Alexandra‘s stillbirth at 34 weeks in 1991 (it had been written into the plot of Married With Children, which was thankfully dropped after Ruby was born still).

Source: People

Thanks to CBB readers Kelly, Chris, Angela and Charlotte.

Comments

COMPLETELY ignorant question here, but I was wondering, when most women have surrogates, is the child there own biologically or in most cases is the child conceived with the surrogates egg and the husbands sperm? I wonder if this baby is Katey’s biologically?

- Rye on January 11th, 2007

I was looking at her age thinking WOW!
i think that is great that she was able to do that-
and to think that i am thinking I might be too old for another baby at 35! he he he it gives me some insipration!

- ekaterina on January 11th, 2007

Rye, don’t quote me on this, but last I checked, the surrogate can be a host, where they’re carrying the biological child of both parents, or the surrogate uses her own egg with the potential father’s sperm.

But anyway, congrats to Katey. I didn’t even know she’d gotten remarried and was planning on having another baby. I like the name she’s given her daughter, though.

- FC on January 11th, 2007

My parents have just become grandparents at that age!

- jjj on January 11th, 2007

Aww I love Katey, if she’s anything like her character on 8 Simple Rules I bet she’s a brilliant mum to her kids. I get the feeling she isn’t much like Peg Bundy these days hehe! Esmé Louise is a beautiful name too.

- Sabina on January 11th, 2007

I should think that at 52, it’s highly unlikely the child would be Katey’s biological child. Even if she hasn’t already gone through menopause, her eggs may not be considered suitable to use. Where I live, egg donors aren’t allowed to be over 35. Of course, I may be wrong. A friend of mine had her unplanned 4th child at 50 which was conceived naturally.

- Kresta on January 11th, 2007

Rye: It can be done either way. The surrogate may be the biological mother of the child, or she may just be the incubator (meaning she only carried the child, but the eggs came from someone else). If I had to guess, I would guess that she not only supplied the womb but also the eggs in this case, given Katy’s age.

- P Dawn on January 11th, 2007

How wonderful! After her heartbreaking miscarriage the season MWC had written a pregnancy for her character into the show, it’s good to know that she now has three children and seems very happy.

- Lara on January 11th, 2007

wow 52! I don’t think I’d ever want to be a mom at 52. My mom was a grandmother at 44! I couldn’t imagine doing that. well congrats to her and her family.

- joy on January 11th, 2007

Congrats to Katey, Kurt, and the rest of their family on the new baby girl! That is wonderful news. I love Katey on Married with Children reruns, 8 Simple Rules reruns, and her voice on Futarama.

Rye, I think that in some cases the surrogate’s egg is used. In other cases a woman can get pregnant however loses the baby as her body can’t hold onto the placenta. If Katey was like that, I think that they can extract one of her eggs, fertilize it with her husband’s sperm and then plan the egg in the surrogate’s uterus. I’m sure there are other ways/possiblities as well.

- Drysdale on January 11th, 2007

Has anyone here used a surrogate to have their child? For an assortment of medical reasons it is unlikely that I will be able to carry a child myself and my fiancee and I are talking about other options. This may sound very ignorant but (and i appologize in advance) do you feel like you have the same bond with the baby once its born that you would if you gave birth?

- Scarlett on January 11th, 2007

Today most surrogates are gestational surrogates meaning they carry the baby, but have no genetic link to the child since the child the surrogate carries was not created with her eggs but either a donor egg or the egg of the woman who will be the child’s mother. This is done to eliminate a potential claim for custody the surrogate may make after the child’s birth (which did happen in a case about 20+ years ago called the Baby M case, where a surrogate who was the baby’s biological mother sued for custody and won).

- ses on January 11th, 2007

Wow, 52! At that age, I wouldn’t think it would be her egg, but what do I know?

Congrats to her, though. I didn’t even know she was pregnant!

- Stephany on January 11th, 2007

Stephany, she wasn’t pregnant.

- Julie on January 11th, 2007

My husband and I had a baby through surrogacy. We used her egg and my husband’s sperm. We did a pre-birth order where she relinquished her rights before he was born (she had 48 hours after birth to change her mind, if that happened we would sue for custody.) Surrogacy has a very high success rate and can be a wonderful experience. Very rarely does a surrogate “change her mind” It’s different from adoption…

- april on January 11th, 2007

I have mixed feelings about people becoming parents in their 50′s & 60′s. I’m sure they can do an excellent jobs taking care of a baby but what happens 10 or 15 years down the line?
My mother is now 65 & an excellent grandmother to my 3 children, ages 13, 12, & 11. However, She does not have the stamina to be their mother.

- Giadana on January 11th, 2007

I didn’t even know they were expecting. Michael J. Fox has a daughter named Esme, too.

- Marilyn on January 11th, 2007

Hi, I ususlly don’t post any comments but I wanted to respond to the questions about surrogacy. I have 2 children that were carried by a surrogate. After the birth of my first daughter (I carried her) I suffered from post-partum hemorrhage and needed a hysterectomy. I still had my ovaries so they were able to retrieve my eggs and use my husbands sperm. There are many different ways you can do it though. You can use a Gestation surrogate (she has no biological ties to the baby) or use can use a traditional surrogate (where she uses her egg and your husbands sperm) and you can always use a donor egg also. It may seem like something that is very rare and strange but it has made my dreams of having a large family come true. It was a wonderful experience. I am not comfortable posting my e-mail address but if anyone would like to chat about it, please post yours. Thanks!

- kathleen bonanno on January 11th, 2007

Haha, it seemed that info went into one ear and out the other! I don’t know what I meant by the comment! Oopsy on my part.

- Stephany on January 11th, 2007

People magazine says Katey is 52, but according to Earthlink Entertainment News, she is 49. Who’s right?

- Jen on January 11th, 2007

Congratulations to them! At what age you have children is a topic it seems all people will debate all of the time. Someone will always feel that another is too old or too young to be a mother. You can’t win either way, so you might as well just live your life! Hey, Anthony Quinn was 81 when he youngest child was born…

- Christina on January 11th, 2007

She was born in 1954, so she’s 52.

- Sarah CBB News Editor on January 11th, 2007

When Katey had her pregnancy written into the show that pregnancy did not end in miscarriage. A Pregnancy loss after the 20th week is considered a stillbirth. She held her daughter and spoke of her in interviews they named her Ruby Alexandra. She was born asleep on October 14, 1991, and was due to be born sometime in December.

- eabb on January 12th, 2007