Enthusing about the joys of motherhood is hardly anything new in Hollywood circles. But as British actress Alex Kingston prepares to celebrate her daughter Salome’s first birthday this week, it’s hard to begrudge her the joy she so obviously feels about being a mum - for ten years, the ER star believed she might never be able to have a baby.
It took two gruelling courses of IVF treatment before Alex, the former wife of English Patient actor Ralph Fiennes and now married to German journalist Florian Haertel, was able to conceive. “When you’ve believed for the past ten years that you’re never going to be a mother when it finally happens you really appreciate it and never forget how lucky you are,” she said in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Express. “It’s amazing. All mothers will say this, but it’s all at once fabulous, frustrating exhausting and all-consuming.”
Knowing that she wanted children since she was 18, Alex had always assumed that she would become a mum. But during her first marriage, it became apparent that “it wasn’t going to happen naturally for whatever reason”. “Actually, there was nothing wrong, it was just one of those things…” she reveals. So, despite working 15 hours a day on the popular US TV series ER at the time, she decided to opt for IVF treatment. Fear of failure meant she kept the decision secret from friends. “I was convinced I wasn’t going to get pregnant, so it was a huge surprise when it did happen,” says the 38-year-old actress.
Now the couple are thinking about trying for a second child. “I would be prepared to do the IVF again. The treatment wouldn’t be so stressful this time because there’s no fear of the unknown,” she reveals. Despite her new role, the former Royal Academy of Dramatic Art student and Royal Shakespeare Company member has no plans to ease up on her career – although the decision has caused the odd twinge. “I feel if I wanted this child so badly then why am I not at home? I should be with her. But at the same time, I have an incredible husband who has given up his work to be a full-time father, and I have the luxury of doing a job where I’m not working nine to five. So I actually think the baby gets a very good deal.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
