Andy Cohen's path to fatherhood wasn't very traditional — and he had to change a few laws along the way to make it happen. This week, Andy revealed that his daughter was one of the first gestational surrogate babies born in New York, since the process had been illegal in the state until very recently. Talk about leaving a legacy!
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Andy's first child was born in Los Angeles
When Andy became a first-time father in 2019, welcoming his son, Ben, into his family via gestational surrogacy, it all happened in Los Angeles, where surrogacy was already legal.
But he wanted his second child to be born in New York, which meant his gestational carrier had to give birth in New York.
If he wanted a New York birth, changes would have to be made
As Andy explained while appearing on the "Not Skinny but Not Fat" podcast, gestational surrogacy was illegal in New York. To be clear, this is the kind of surrogacy where the surrogate does not provide their own egg to carry the baby — traditional surrogacy was already legal there.
He said he worked with Andrew Cuomo, who was governor at the time, and "really made it happen" when it came to changing the laws.
Andy says this is why there's such an age gap between his children
His son, Ben, and daughter, Lucy, are three years apart, and that's because it took time for the law to change.
"I went to Albany a couple of times, and I was out there trying to get (the law) passed. I wanted my surrogate to have the baby in New York, and so Lucy was one of the first surrogate babies born here," he said. "But also, it was good because it gave me a lot more time to kind of get good at it with Ben."
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He thanked his surrogate when Lucy was born
When Andy announced Lucy's birth in April 2022, he was sure to point out how instrumental his surrogate was in making his dream of becoming a father again a reality.
"HERE’S LUCY!!!!! Meet my daughter, Lucy Eve Cohen! She’s 8 pounds 13 oz and was born at 5:13 pm in New York City!!! Her big brother can’t wait to meet her! Thank you to my rock star surrogate (ALL surrogates are rockstars, by the way) and everyone who helped make this miracle happen. I’m so happy," he wrote.
It's hard to believe Lucy is already a year old
She celebrated her first birthday in April, and as far as we can tell, she has one proud dad. There's no doubt that Andy's hard work paved the way for others to make their parenthood dreams come true via surrogate in New York. Building a family happens in all kinds of ways, after all.
