"[It's] about to happen..."
Hilary Swank is opening up about becoming a first-time mom at 48 years old.
The iconic “Yellowjackets” actress, who turned 50 on July 30, is just two years removed from welcoming a set of twins — daughter Aya and son Ohm — with her husband Philip Schneider.
Swank revealed the exciting news in an April 2023 Instagram post.
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“It wasn’t easy. But boy (and girl!) was it worth it,” she wrote in the caption. “Happy Easter! Posting from pure Heaven.”
Now two years later, Swank is dishing on all the details in a cover story for Women’s Health magazine.
“I would have had kids earlier. I’m not saying I actively waited until 47,” she says — referring to the fact that she was 47 years old when she learned she was pregnant for the first time.
“But that was a magical time in my life, when it all culminated. It was the right time for a myriad of reasons,” she added.
Swank, who froze her eggs at 37 in preparation for having kids later in life, urges other hopeful mothers to do the same — if possible.
“It takes some of the pressure off,” she tells Women’s Health.
And while Swank acknowledges that there’s no guarantee when freezing eggs, she highlights the “reassurance and flexibility” it provides — allowing women to give birth with “fewer restrictions on timing.”
According to Louis Villalba, Chief Executive Officer at TMRW, “more than a million frozen eggs and embryos are put into storage every year in the United States.”
But just because an egg is frozen doesn’t mean it’ll be viable, Swank warns.
According to the Southern California Reproductive Center (SCRC), women under 35 years old who freeze 15 mature eggs are given a cumulative 80% chance of at least one live birth.
That percentage drops to just a 50% chance of at least one birth for women between the ages of 40 and 42 — even when freezing as much as 30 eggs.
Still, Swank describes it as “one of the best and most important things she did” for her future as a mom.
Swank discusses the impact of waiting to become a mom
While talking to Women’s Health, Swank admitted that she’s a “very different parent” than she would’ve been if she hadn’t waited to become a mom.
“I’m much more patient. I’m much more understanding. I am much more, I think, interested in a different way than I would’ve been,” she said in the cover story, published April 8.
Waiting until her late-40s to become a mother, Swank says, allowed her to “sink in and be present” with her twins — further describing herself as a “hands-on parent.”
“I’m really interested in their brains. I’m fascinated about what makes them tick. And I have my career that’s already established, so I’m not divided,” she added.
Swank, who has already won two Oscars and two Golden Globe awards by the time she became a mother, announced her pregnancy in October 2022.
The reveal came just a few days after Swank honored her father, Stephen Swank, on the one-year anniversary of his death.
During an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” at the time, Swank revealed the significance of her twins’ due date — which was initially scheduled for April 16.
“They’re due on his birthday,” she told host Drew Barrymore — referring to her father’s birthday.
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Swank gave birth to her twins on April 9, one week before her father’s birthday.
