Melanie Brown 'Would Love' to Have Twins

Scott Kirkland/Globe

Just named the new host of Dance Your Ass Off, 2010 is shaping up to be a big year for Melanie Brown. If the singer has her way, however, it will be even bigger!

“We want to extend the family,” she reveals in a new interview with Hello! “We definitely want to have kids at some point in 2010 or the beginning of 2011, because this year’s going to be pretty busy.”

Melanie is speaking in plural for good reason! Twins run in husband Stephen Belafonte‘s family, she notes, adding,

“I would love to have twins. I think there’s something nice about having two babies, and they’re there for each other their whole entire life. That would be ideal for me.”

The former Spice Girl, 34, is quick to point out, however, that “one healthy baby would be more than fine.”

“That’s all you can wish for.”

Already a mom to daughters Phoenix Chi, 10 ½, and Angel Iris, 2 ½, as well as stepmom to Stephen’s 5-year-old daughter Giselle, Melanie says that her family recently moved into a new six-bedroom home in Los Angeles. Their relocation wasn’t only about “extend[ing] the family,” however. “We wanted Phoenix to have more of a stable home life,” Melanie explains. “Her school’s close by.”

Source: Hello! via Daily Mail

Comments

Li on January 13th, 2010

Twins have nothing to do with the man, it’s all about the mama’s eggs.

Shannon on January 13th, 2010

Nice thought, but when it comes to genetics coming into play with twins, doesn’t it have to be in the mom’s family, not the dad’s? Other than that I’m pretty sure its just luck.

btw_2010 on January 13th, 2010

I don’t mind if this family has more kids – please don’t let them cut the kids hair!!! j/k

tigerjen on January 13th, 2010

I truly wish more women would educate themselves about the female reproductive system. It does not matter if every one on your husbands side of the family is a twin. It’s not the sperm it is the egg and the ovaries.

Belle on January 13th, 2010

Is twins really genetically from the moms side? My girlfriend has identical twins, and her husband has two sets of twins (identical) on his side. I just figured it could come from both sides. Interesting.

Mrs. R. on January 13th, 2010

I am glad to see all the comments about the ‘twins on my husband’s side’ statement.
It’s pretty silly that people say things like that when it’s not possible (Except for the extremely remote chances of identical twins occurring).

Lily on January 13th, 2010

Identical twins happen randomly when the egg splits, fraternal twins can run ONLY on the mother’s side. How does a man’s family have anything to do with how many eggs a woman releases??
This is one of my pet peeves with people talking about having twins because it runs on “my husband’s side”!!

Sarah on January 13th, 2010

Thank goodness someone else noticed that they mentioned it was on the husband’s side. Either two eggs are released from the ovaries, or one egg splits into two after being fertilized. The sperm don’t split. It makes no difference that twins run in his family…unless she’s a blood relative…which would be gross.

Jess from Ohio on January 13th, 2010

I for one would hope to never have twins lol. But if Melanie would like to have twins, I hope it happens for her. I think their baby (or babies!) would be adorable.

debbie on January 13th, 2010

I guess this is a pet peeves of ours, It seems that all of us have the same thought. I thank all of you cause i couldnt repeat myself another time. I think Lily said it best. “Twins have nothing to do with the man, it’s all about the mama’s eggs.”

Besides that, her body is rocking for 2 kids…

M on January 13th, 2010

I was going to make the exact same comment about twinning. As far as science can tell, there is no genetic disposition to have identical twins–and if there is one, it probably runs through the mother. Fraternal twins can run in families, but ONLY on the mother’s side. This is because women can have a genetic tendency to hyperovulate, and hyperovulation increases the chance of having twins. The hyperovulation gene can be passed down to daughters, but, obviously, not sons. Therefore, twins only run on the mother’s side of the family.

Sia on January 13th, 2010

Actually. The hyper ovulation gene can be passed to sons, but as they don’t ovulate it is inactive in them. A male carrier of the gene can pass it to his daughters. However when a couple are having children the man has no effect on the chances of twins even if twins run in his family. THEIR daughter may have an increased chance of twins

m on January 13th, 2010

What I would really like to see is more women, celebrities and non-celebrities, actually having a clue about twin pregnancies being high risk. I think up to 1 in 8 actually end in a “vanishing twin”. Finding out you are carrying twins and then finding out one stopped growing is devastating – and not always as simple physiologically as it sounds. Then there are the higher risks for GD, HBP, preeclampsia, prematurity, low birth rate….I could go on and on.

People – be happy with one healthy baby, or at least one healthy baby at a time! Trust me – it is not all fun and games and two of everything to shop for.

bungalow_bliss on January 13th, 2010

Maybe she just meant that they’d like to keep the “tradition” of twins on his side going? I’m giving Mel the benefit of the doubt…I’d like to think that, having gone through two pregnancies, she’d be a little more educated about the workings of these things!

Meela on January 13th, 2010

“I don’t mind if this family has more children” that comment struck me as really funny!!!! I think I know what you are saying nevertheless still odd!

Mike on January 13th, 2010

I like how she says she’d ‘love’ to have twins. I have them, and a three year old. It’s not as easy as she thinks.

CelebBabyLover on January 14th, 2010

m- And Melanie clearly said that she’d be perfectly happy having just one healthy baby.

Luna on January 14th, 2010

Growing up i always wanted twins too, but they ran in my side of the family. I think that Mel was probably just hoping her husband could do something about the twin situation. Giving her the botd

Diana on January 14th, 2010

I don’t think I have EVER heard someone say that they would even prefer twins! Not something I would want for sure!! Higher risk pregnancy and then I just can’t imagine handling two newborns at the same time! Of course I couldn’t afford to hire help if I needed it.

lene on January 14th, 2010

it wont be easy to take care of twins

MammaDucky on January 14th, 2010

Sia, thanks for adding that! People often don’t think about passing the genetic trait for hyper ovulation to a son, and thusly to HIS daughter. This is the reason why people think twins “skip a generation!”
Daddy CAN influence twinning, just not in his ability to produce twins in his generation. All of their daughters, however, have an increased chance of having fraternal twins! Cute family.

jeanne on January 14th, 2010

another set of ivf twins in hollywood are sure to be on the way with this couple. it absolutely makes no difference if twins run in the male’s side–for fraternal twins it is genetically connected to mother’s side as she has to release the two eggs. And identical twins (to which I am a mom) are random and no one knows how this happens–no genetic connection what so ever.
Why do so many couples in hollywood deny the use of fertility treatments to conceive their twins–please do they not realize that it is so obvious with so so many having fraternal twins

Julie on January 14th, 2010

It’s sounds like she’s saying twins run in her husband’s family so when she does (IVF) become pregnant with twins she can say she conceived naturally. If I remember correctly Jennifer Lopez said the same thing about twins running in her father’s side of the family. Pleassssssse who do they think they are fooling and what is the big deal about stating the truth!

Haleiwa on January 14th, 2010

Since the part about twins running in Stephen’s side of the family was not in quotes, it probably was not Melanie who made the connection between twins and twins running in his family. It was the writer who made the inference. I think people should look more closely as to what is in quotes and what isn’t before jumping on someone.

And if she did make the connection, so what! Gosh forbid a celebrity should have this commonly held belief.

I also don’t have a problem with her believing twins are great. All those medical problems with twins can happen with a singleton but no one ever tells a woman thinking about getting pregnant how horrible or difficult a singleton can be. I think people should be entitled to a bit of fantasy.

RIP Michael on January 14th, 2010

Get in line girl. All of Hollywood has a set of twins

Margot on January 14th, 2010

Okay, slight pet peeve as a result of Sarah’s comment re: origins of twins. Your words: “Either two eggs are released from the ovaries, or one egg splits into two after being fertilized. The sperm don’t split.”

Call me pedantic, but your comment is factually incorrect. Once an egg is fertilized (thus combining the genetic material from both parents), it ceases to be an egg and becomes a blastocyst, a group of totipotent cells which eventually form a zygote, then an embryo. It is the BLASTOCYST that splits to create monozygotic twins, not the egg. If a mature egg split, it would die – the daughter cells wouldn’t have the correct chromosome complement (how do you split 23 chromosomes evenly anyway? And how is this supposed to result in two genetically identical individuals?)

Twins are not solely the genetic realm of the mother. Identical twinning CAN be a paternally-inherited trait, because the father’s genes have as much say in the resulting child/ren as the mother’s once fertilization has occurred. That’s the whole point of sexual reproduction. Before you get up in arms and start arguing with me, I’m reading a study at present, found by simple Google search, which indicates as much. I’ll link at the bottom of this comment. Apparently, in some cases, there IS a demonstrable paternal component to monozygotic twinning. Not always, but sometimes.

Fraternal twinning can only occur during multiple ovulation. A man with the genetic tendency for fraternal twinning can pass this tendency to his daughter, and she may have twins as a result. She also may not. That’s the funny thing about these genetic traits – they don’t always pop up in the way that you’d expect. Melanie Brown can wax lyrical about twins in her husband’s family and how this means that they have a good chance of having twins, but (even if the twinning is monozygotic – she doesn’t specify, does she?) it doesn’t mean that they’ll have twins. They probably won’t, actually, because the statistical probability of any random person in the population having twins is about 3%, so even if that probability was doubled for Melanie Brown and Stephen Belafonte, they would still have a 94% probability of NOT having twins. Don’t count your zygotes before they’re implanted.

This is the link to the paternal twinning information.
http://www.atypon-link.com/AAP/doi/pdf/10.1375/twin.5.2.75?cookieSet=1

CelebBabyLover on January 15th, 2010

Why the assumption that a lot of twins in Hollywood are concieved via IVF? A lot of them probably ARE concieved with medical assistance, but that doesn’t need to be in the form of IVF. There are plenty of other fertility treatments out there, most of which also increase the chances of having twins.

These include fertility drugs (such as clomid), and IUI (also called artifical insemination) used with fertility drugs (IUI used alone doesn’t increase the chances of twins, since there isn’t anything being used to stimulate the ovaries. Basically, the only difference between IUI without fertilty drugs and natural conception is that the sperm are injected into the uterus via a syringe or catheter rather than via the “natural” way.)

Why do people always assume that, if there WAS medical assistance involved in the conception of a celeb baby, it was IVF that was used?

lea on January 15th, 2010

It just annoys me when people say they WANT twins. I think they feel that it is fun and easy. I have 4 year old twins and it is very hard.It is not all rosy and pretty and it is not just an ‘extra’ baby. It is expensive, tiring,very busy and lonely sometimes. Women who say they want multiples are either naive or think that celebrity moms are just like them. They are far from it. Famous moms (Julia Roberts, Angelina, JLO) have many nannies, housekeepers, chefs ect., to help them every minute. Celebrities want twins because they have a house full of helpers that do it for them. I highly doubt celebrities are up every 20 minutes with their newborn babies. Celebrity moms are not real, they just pretend they are.

Brownsugar1313 on January 16th, 2010

Good heavens the woman just said she would love twins…cant someone make a comment anymore without needing a damn biology lesson.

My dad is a twin and I have four brothers and so far none have produced twins. I am pregnant and thought for sure it would be me but alas its not…disappointed…not really just happy the one growing is happy and healthy.

Twins tend to skip a generation, thats how we deduce it in my culture so either one of my nieces or nephews or my own will have twins. That’s the way it has been in my family for years….I dont need biology for that!!

Cindi on May 5th, 2010

I see a lot of statements saying that men have nothing to do with fraternal twins which obviously is true. I mean just think about it ladies. How can the man have anything to do with the ovaries dropping more than 1 egg??
BUT is it a scientifically proven fact that men can not carry the gene that causes an egg to split, forming identical twins(or more)? We humans have not discovered every small detail about how the egg splits. Whether it happens randomly or it’s caused by a gene that can be found within the actual egg itself or the sperm. So until I’m shown actual scientific data that proves 100% that men are not involved at all I would say yes it’s possible for her to have twins. Though I don’t believe the chances would be any higher than if it ran within her own family or did not. Honestly every female is likely to have twins whether or not it runs in either family. Every female is different. Same goes for males.
So In other words, if it’s not proven than it’s still likely. Agree or don’t agree. That’s just my opinion.