Erin Andrews’ journey to motherhood was far from easy, with the FOX Sports broadcaster facing years of uncertainty before eventually welcoming her son with her husband, Jarret Stoll. Long before their marriage, Andrews was already thinking about freezing her eggs, making a major decision in her mid-30s, as she remained uncertain about what the future held for her relationships and family plans.

The decision to freeze her eggs later proved particularly significant after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016, as her treatment created additional challenges surrounding her fertility. Years later, Andrews has opened up about the thinking behind that decision and the uncertainty she faced at the time.

“I mean, I got married later on in my life,” said Andrews on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “We tried to have a baby later on in my life, but I kind of knew in my, like, 35, 36, I should be freezing my eggs. Like, I don’t know when I’m getting married. I don’t know if this is the guy. Who knows? So, I started doing that, and I wasn’t having- I’m sure you’ve heard it over and over when you do IVF, you’re like, ‘I got seven eggs.’ You think it’s so much, and then you’re like, ‘Wait, only one of these turned into an embryo, and they’re not okay.'”

Andrews’ decision came at a time when Stoll was already part of her life, but marriage was still far from certain. The couple began dating in 2012 and eventually moved in together in 2014. Andrews was in her mid-30s then. However, they didn’t get engaged until 2016, giving further context to why she wanted to preserve her fertility rather than leave her chances of becoming a mother entirely to timing.

That decision became even more significant later that year when Andrews was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

At the time, she and Stoll were not yet married, and Andrews has previously revealed that doctors did not know whether she would need a hysterectomy. However, freezing her eggs was only the beginning of what would become a years-long fertility journey.

“I froze my eggs and I thought, Oh, I have enough. This is so great. I didn’t understand it wasn’t as easy as just harvesting a good amount of eggs. You could get 11 eggs but create no embryos [because of factors like poor egg or sperm quality]. And that’s what happened to me a couple of times,” she recalled a couple of years ago. “I wasn’t having success, which is why I did it for so long. It was exhausting.”

Meanwhile, Andrews’ relationship with the former NHL player progressed, and he later proposed her to marry at Disneyland in December 2016, just months after her cancer diagnosis. The couple married in Montana in June 2017. Their journey toward parenthood, however, continued long after they exchanged vows.

After years of fertility treatments and unsuccessful attempts, Andrews and Stoll eventually turned to surrogacy. The couple welcomed their son, Mack, in July 2023, marking the culmination of a fertility journey that began years earlier when Andrews decided to freeze her eggs while still uncertain about what her future would look like.