- "Boy Meets World" actor Trina McGee has announced she is pregnant at the age of 54.
- More women are having children at the age we typically associate with menopause.
- It's possible to conceive after age 50, but it comes with a few risks.
Actor Trina McGee has announced she is pregnant at the age of 54, as part of a growing trend of women having children at a time more often associated with menopause.
McGee, who played Angela Moore on the popular 1990s sitcom "Boy Meets World," announced on Monday that she is expecting her fourth child.
She wrote on Instagram: "At the tender age of 54, I have found myself pregnant. Please bless us with your prayers for a safe delivery."
The number of US women over the age of 50 giving birth has risen in recent decades, from 144 in 1997 to 1,230 in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The average age at which mothers have their first child is now 27.4 years old, a record high, the NCHS said in a report.
It's unclear why more people are getting pregnant over 50. But in general, more people are having kids later when they have completed their education and have more stable careers, relationships, and finances, according to a 2022 study by researchers at University College London.
McGee claims to have used unproven treatments to conceive. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says on its website that those looking to use complementary medicine should tell their regular healthcare provider about any alternative approaches they use.
"Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care," it says.
McGee told ET Online on Tuesday she was hesitant to have IVF, so instead conceived with the help of the Garifuna people in Belize, where her husband has cultural ties. She said she fell pregnant despite having had her "tubes tied" and being a year into menopause.
McGee said shamans gave her three drops of an elixir of wild yam, "made in a very spiritual way," each morning and night for an undisclosed period of time. She said she also led an "extremely healthy lifestyle" and did a "few tricks" to "clean" her womb.
"Having a child at my age is not a big deal for the rest of the world outside America," she said.
This will be her first child with husband Marcello Thedford, who she has been married to for 16 years, according to People magazine. She has three other children, aged 31, 29, and 25: two with her ex-husband, Courtland Davis, and another child from a previous relationship.
Getting pregnant after 50 comes with risks
Pregnancy after the age of 35 used to be classed as "geriatric," but now healthcare providers tend to use the term "advanced maternal age."
With age, it can get harder to conceive. "As women age, they're still fertile, but their odds of pregnancy are decreased because they're not making as many good eggs that will fertilize and divide normally and turn out to be an embryo," Dr. Alan Decherney, a National Institutes of Health fertility expert, told NIH News in Health. And people tend to go through menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, after which they aren't fertile because the ovaries no longer release eggs.
People can have healthy pregnancies and babies after the age of 35, but certain risks increase the older they get, Sophie King, a midwife from the support team at UK pregnancy research charity Tommy's, told Business Insider.
"If you're expecting a baby in your 40s or 50s, your age can affect the development of the placenta, which in turn can make it more likely that you will develop pre-eclampsia or your baby will be relatively small at birth," King said.
"Other issues to be aware of are an increased risk of gestational diabetes, which can make it more likely that you will have a very large baby, and high blood pressure," she added.
But having a baby later in life can also come with benefits, as parents are more likely to be better financially and emotionally prepared for a child.
BI previously reported that Naomi Campbell became a mother at 50, and Cameron Diaz had her first child at 47.