Emma Roberts Opens Up About Her Fertility Struggles

Emma Roberts recently got candid about her fertility struggles in the new issue of Cosmopolitan. The actress is expecting her first child with her boyfriend Garett Hedlund next year. However, Roberts confessed she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get pregnant because she has endometriosis. According to Yale Medicine, this condition impacts one in 10 women and can cause chronic pelvic pain. Roberts explained to Cosmo she's been dealing with endometriosis since she was a teenager, but wasn't diagnosed until she was in her late 20s.

"I always had debilitating cramps and periods, so bad that I would miss school and, later, have to cancel meetings," she told the publication. "I mentioned this to my doctor, who didn't look into it and sent me on my way because maybe I was being dramatic?" The American Horror Story actress said this led her to wanting to switch to a female doctor, who ran tests and confirmed she did in fact have the condition.

Roberts admitted to Cosmo by the time she was officially diagnosed with endometriosis, it had already impacted her fertility and she was told it would be best to freeze her eggs. According to the Society for Reproductive Technology (via CNBC), more than 10,000 women get their eggs frozen in a year and that number is steadily increasing. However, the star of Netflix's Holidate said she was truly shocked by the discovery and wasn't sure what to do.

"It felt so permanent, and oddly, I felt like I had done something wrong," she said. "But I started opening up to other women, and all of a sudden, there was a new world of conversation about endometriosis, infertility, miscarriages, fear of having kids. I was so grateful to find out I was not alone in this."

Roberts said she ultimately decided to get her eggs frozen, just in case there was an issue in the future. But, life seemed to have a different plan for the actress. "It sounds cheesy, but the moment that I stopped thinking about it, we got pregnant," she said. "But even then, I didn't want to get my hopes up." Roberts said because of the uncertainty she kept it really private at first, in case it didn't work out. "This pregnancy made me realize that the only plan you can have is that there is no plan."