Reality star Kim Kardashian and her husband, rapper Kanye West opted to go down the surrogacy route with their two most recent children, Chicago (born January 15, 2018) and Psalm (born May 9, 2019). Following the two surrogate births, there has been much speculation from fans around how much the surrogate mothers were paid.

As reported by TMZ, Kim and Kanye’s surrogates received $45,000 paid through monthly installments of $4,500 throughout the pregnancies, with a $68,850 agency deposit.      

Despite much speculation, surrogates do not get paid more to carry celebrity’s offspring, the cost is determined by the surrogacy agencies who assist with the process and ensure all aspects of the process run smoothly and safely. 

Despite this relatively mediocre sum in comparison to Kim and Kanye’s combined earnings of $4.2 billion dollars, surrogacy fees do rack up. Alongside paying the surrogate mother you will also be hit with clinic fees, legal fees, agency fees, and psychological support fees which can swiftly add up to over $130,000. 

Kim Kardashian revealed in her family’s reality show ‘Keeping Up with The Kardashians’ that the risk of Kim going through another pregnancy was far too great of a risk to her health, which left Kim and Kanye considering the option of surrogacy.

During both of Kim’s natural pregnancies with her first two children, North (June 15, 2013) and Saint (December 5, 2015) she suffered from a serious pregnancy condition known as ‘placenta accreta’ which develops when the placenta cultivates deeply into the uterine wall and then remains attached after birth which can result in post-birth hemorrhaging and even infertility. 

Alongside this, Kim has also experienced another serious pregnancy condition during her pregnancy with North known as ‘pre-eclampsia’, which is a condition that results in high blood pressure and protein in urine which can cause damage to both the liver and the kidneys. 

Pre-eclampsia can be serious if it is not treated as it affects the arteries carrying blood to the placenta, and if the placenta does not receive enough blood this can result in fetal growth restriction, low birth weight or premature birth. Additionally, Kardashian’s second child, Saint was also breech.

Kim took the risk with her second baby but was warned any further pregnancies pose a risk to her life 

There has been a lot of speculation around Kim Kardashian’s surrogacies and whether Kim opted for surrogacy for reasons purely based on vanity, however, Kim has made it clear to the public that surrogacy was not an easy option, she felt it was her last option if she wanted to have her own biological children.

During a conversation with her sister, Kourtney Kardashian, Kim is quoted ‘Obviously I do want to have my own baby, but I feel like I truly don’t know if my body can handle it one more time.’ Kim continued, ‘There are a lot of fears that I have about surrogacy and a lot of unanswered questions.’ 

Whilst being interviewed by Elle, Kim explained ‘After giving birth, your placenta is supposed to come out. But mine was stuck, that’s what women usually die from in childbirth — you hemorrhage and bleed to death and they can’t stop it.’ 

Although luckily for Kim this did not happen during her first two natural pregnancies, she was warned that any further pregnancies could pose a risk to Kim’s life as well as her unborn child’s life.

The risks associated with surrogate pregnancies

Despite Kim being cast as ‘lazy’ and opting for the ‘easy option’, surrogacy is notorious for a variety of risks that are associated with it, both for the surrogate and the biological parent(s).

Naturally, the biological parent(s) are riddled with the worry of ultimately (and usually) a stranger carrying their child, and whether they truly are emotionally and mentally stable enough to endure such an intrusive process. 

The surrogate mother will sustain intense biological changes and will naturally form a bond with the unborn child which will result in emotional turmoil when the child is taken away from them. 

A study by the Iranian Journal of Reproductive Medicine reported that ‘Surrogacy pregnancy should be considered as a high-risk emotional experience because many surrogate mothers may face negative experiences. Therefore, it is recommended that surrogates should receive professional counseling prior to, during, and following pregnancy.’

Despite the scrutiny Kim Kardashian has faced, she has shown the world the highs and lows of experiencing difficult pregnancies and exploring different paths to enable her to have more children, which has hopefully offered hope to parents struggling to conceive.