Later Mom Features
May 2013 Profile: Elisabeth Rohm
NAME: Elisabeth Rohm
AGE: Just turned 40 (yikes)!!!
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Engaged
RESIDENCE: Venice, California
CHILD’S NAME/AGE: Easton August Anthony, age 5
I started professionally acting once I graduated college at the age of 23. I was first featured on the soap opera, One Life to Live, then quickly moved on to primetime with a reoccurring role on the WB show, Angel. To date, I’m probably best known for my role as ADA on Law & Order. Other credits include the show Heroes, as well as movies such as Transit and Abduction. I am currently filming the movie American Hustle with Dir. David O. Russell, and can also be seen on the Lifetime show, The Client List. Visit www.elisabeth-rohm.com.
Robin Gorman Newman, founder, MotherhoodLater.com, had the opportunity to chat on the phone with Elisabeth while she was on set shooting American Hustle. Elisabeth was super friendly and forthcoming about her fertility challenges and her desire to inform and empower other women who aspire to have children.
What was your road to parenthood like? In many ways, it was very quick. I always knew that I wanted to be a mother, so when I found out that I had fertility issues I immediately became proactive. Luckily for me, I got pregnant after two cycles of IVF. I was blessed that it worked out and that I had options besides the “old-fashioned” way.
What led you to write your new book BABY STEPS? I didn’t initially plan to be vocal about having fertility issues. However, once I started blogging about my infertility, I found a real need for more openness and a call to action to make the subject less taboo. I had such an outpouring of love and support from readers that it seemed like the right thing to do. The rapid decline in my fertility came so early for me. I was 34. In a way it was a blessing because if I hadn’t made the discovery early, I might have missed the boat completely. If you want to take your time and have a baby at 40, it’s your perogative, but it requires thinking ahead and having more information than what is commonly discussed amongst people openly. Women are sometimes ashamed when they have fertility challenges. If you have a baby when you’re in your 40s, you likely had assistance with it. So, what’s the big deal? My goal is to get women talking about it early….to create more conversation, openness and dialogue around it…so it’s not something that women suffer in silence over. More medical advances are being made, and women can share and give each other support to manifest for themselves in their own time what their ultimate life dreams are.
How did it feel when you found out you were pregnant? I was one of those kids who wanted to be a parent. I had baby lust at a young age. The one thing I knew for sure what that I wanted to be a mother one day. It was so shocking to learn at age 34 that I was never going to get pregnant naturally. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be able to do?
