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Chrissy Teigen Chose To Have Baby Girl During IVF Treatments, Says John Legend ‘Deserves That Bond’

By Joanna Jaguar
Published on: 07:39 PST, Feb 24, 2016

Chrissy Teigen says she chose to have a baby girl when she was undergoing IVF treatments after facing infertility issues while she and husband John Legend tried to conceive.

During an interview with People, in which Teigen discussed her new cookbook, Cravings, Chrissy Teigen explained that while she was going through the in vitro fertilization process — a subject that Teigen has alway been very open about — she was given the opportunity to choose the sex of her baby. So she did.

“I’ve made this decision. Not only am I having a girl, but I picked the girl from her little embryo. I picked her and was like, ‘Let’s put in the girl.'”

Although it is a somewhat controversial subject, the ability to choose the sex of the baby is possible through processes called preimplantation genetic screening and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Typically, these processes are done in order to look for genetic or chromosomal abnormalities or defects in the embryos prior to implantation — a few cells from each embryo are biopsied, and those that are found to have defects or abnormalities are discarded, significantly lowering the chance of miscarriage. One can also choose to do preconception sex selection at the same time — which is what Chrissy Teigen did — where single cells from the embryos are tested for X and Y chromosomes. Preconception sex selection is banned in Australia, Canada, China, and the United Kingdom due to its controversial nature.

If the practice is so controversial, then why did Chrissy Teigen opt to have it done? According to E! Online, it was so she could be sure to provide husband John Legend with a daughter for his first child.

“I think I was most excited and allured by the fact that John would be the best father to a little girl. That excited me. It excited me to see…just the thought of seeing him with a little girl. I think he deserves a little girl. I think he deserves that bond.”

Not everyone seems to agree with Chrissy Teigen’s decision. One Twitter user who went by the handle @Real_VondaCole — whose Twitter account has since been deleted after the barrage of angry responses from Teigen’s fanbase — called Chrissy out on the matter.

“Did you choose the hair and the eye color too Chrissy Teigen….smh messing with the natural blessings from God.”

Chrissy responded, “my natural blessing from god was infertility.”

Many of Teigen’s fans also jumped in to defend her. Chrissy later quipped that she had also chosen the embryo that had a love of bacon, a “knack for magic,” and an average foot size so she would never have trouble finding shoes.

In her interview, Chrissy Teigen also revealed that eventually, she and Legend would like to add to their family, saying a son was definitely in her future. Even though most women who undergo IVF treatment tend to end up with at least one embryo left over and often choose to freeze them for the future, there has been no word yet on whether that is what Chrissy and John have decided to do.

“A boy will come along. We’ll get there too, so it’s not like we really have to pick. But [John] definitely is very lucky to have a little girl. And this girl is going to be so completely lucky to have John as her papa—it’s crazy!”

Chrissy announced that she was pregnant in October via an Instagram post, and two months later, in December, announced that she and John were expecting a baby girl. Their daughter is due this spring.

What are your thoughts on Chrissy Teigen using the controversial preconception sex selection to choose the gender of her baby?

[Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP]

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