I had a baby at 68 with my dead son’s sperm – I’ve been criticised for it but the little girl saved me
AN actress became a mum at 68 after welcoming a baby via surrogate with her dead son’s sperm.
Ana Obregón, now 70, used her son Aless Lequio’s sperm to conceive and have his child because it was his “last wish.”
The socialite sent shockwaves through the world after welcoming a child in her late 60s, but one month later revealed the baby, Anita Sandra, was actually her granddaughter.
She explained that Anita was conceived using an egg donor and her late son’s frozen sperm, which he had preserved two years prior to his death from cancer in 2022.
Speaking this weekend, the actress shared how her home is now “full of stuffed animals and toys.”
She added: “I even have a little ball pool where she makes me dive in.”
Ana also revealed that picking up Anita is becoming more difficult for her as it is starting to hurt her back.
Reflecting on her son’s life, she said: “We live our whole lives saying that we are eternal and nothing happens here.
“Suddenly, one day they tell you at 25 years old that you have an aggressive cancer.”
Her son Aless died from cancer at just 27 years old in May 2020 after a two-year battle with the disease.
In a recent interview with ¡Hola!, Ana explained that the arrival of her granddaughter, who was born via a surrogate, “resurrected” her.
She said: “I know I’ll never feel the happiness I had when Aless was with me again.
“That pain will never go away. You don’t accept or get over the death of a child.
“You end up accepting that you’ll never be able to come to terms with their departure.
“Fortunately, Anita now fills my days. I was dead for three years from Aless’ death until Anita was born.”
When Anita turned one, Ana took to Instagram to mark her birthday and explained that she was “a copy of her dad.”
My little angel of light, you will blow the candle tonight in your dream with your dad while I hug you, dying of love
Ana Obregón, 70
“I can only thank you for filling my heart with light submerged in the deepest darkness and mutilated by immense pain,” Ana wrote.
“Thank you for your smile, your babbles, your crawls and first steps.
“Thank you for looking at me with the same love as your dad looked at me… never had anyone looked at me that way.
“You are a copy of your dad, desired from that heaven that borders eternity.
“One day I will tell you how your dad was: noble, generous, brave, supportive, funny, loving, with a crazy girl tenderness that provoked love in all of us who were lucky enough to love him.
“And you will be the same, Anita.
“My little angel of light, you will blow the candle tonight in your dream with your dad while I hug you, dying of love.”
Anita was born in a hospital in Miami, US, and is legally Ana’s daughter.
The socialite hasn’t ruled out bringing more of her son’s children into the world via surrogate, as it was his “wish” to have five children, but she has previously revealed her fears for Anita as she gets older.
She said: “With Aless, I would go to work confident that everything would be fine.
Life is a breath of fresh air
Ana Obregón, 70
“But life has taught me that one day you have a perfectly healthy child, and out of the blue, you’re told he has a very aggressive cancer.
“Life is a breath of fresh air.”
Ana gave the moving interview on Spanish TV.
Ana gained popularity in the Eighties and Nineties for her roles in various Spanish TV shows and films.
However, following Anita’s birth, Ana found herself at the centre of a national media storm in Spain after revealing her use of a surrogate.
What is surrogacy?
Surrogacy is the name given for a type of pregnancy where a woman carries and gives birth to another person’s baby.
The surrogate mother is then expected to give up the baby at birth, so it can be raised by the couple who originally wanted the baby.
Surrogacy is often an option for those unable to have children themselves, or for same sex couples.
According to surrogacy charity Childlessness Overcome Through Surrogacy (COTS), there are two different types of surrogacy.
- Traditional surrogacy: When the surrogate uses her own egg fertilised with the intended father’s sperm.
- Gestational surrogacy: The surrogate carries the intended parent’s genetic child conceived through IVF, for which specialist doctors are needed.
How are surrogate babies conceived?
In traditional surrogacy procedures, the egg is artificially inseminated using a syringe.
Gestational surrogacy is carried out through IVF.
During this in vitro fertilisation process, the egg is removed from the woman’s ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory.
The embryo is then planted in the surrogate’s womb to grow and develop.
This procedure must be carried out by specialist doctors and the biological mother is required to still have working ovaries.