MAKING HEADLINES AROUND THE WORLD, SPANISH T.V. STAR ANA OBREGON INTRODUCES US TO HER PRECIOUS DAUGHTER ANITA AND SHARES THE EMOTIONAL STORY BEHIND HER BIRTH
INTERVIEW: MAMEN SANCHEZ PHOTOS: JESUS CORDERO
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS
L ike any besotted new mother, Ana Obregón is wreathed in smiles as she proudly introduces us to her beautiful baby girl. But behind this peaceful scene lies a story that has been making headlines around the world.
It all started when our sister magazine ¡HOLA!
announced the surprise birth with pictures of the 68-year-old Spanish TV personality leaving hospital in Miami with her newborn last month.
Ana went on to share details of the surrogate pregnancy exclusively with ¡HOLA!, revealing that while the baby – also Ana, but given the pet name Anita – is legally her daughter, she is actually her granddaughter.
A MOTHER’S PROMISE
Anita’s father is Alessandro, the son Ana tragically lost to cancer three years ago, when he was 27. It was, she says, his dying wish to bring a child into the world. Describing Anita, who was born perfectly healthy and three weeks early, as a gift from heaven, Ana tells us she herself feels “reborn”.
As for the critics: “Only parents who have buried a child have the right to an opinion. They are the only ones who can understand me,” she says.
Here is Ana’s heartfelt account of the lead up to the birth, her own journey from devastating grief to joy and her plans for her baby’s future.
Ana, how did you reach the decision to have a child, alone, at your age, three years after the passing of Alessandro?
“I made the decision to start the surrogacy journey the same day my son went to heaven. The very same day. This was Aless’s last wish – to bring a child of his own into the world. This is what he told me and his father a week before he passed away.
“The only thing that has allowed me to go on living through every day, every second, is to fulfil this mission.”
Who knew about it?
“Only Aless’s father, Alessandro Lequio, and my sisters Celia and Amalia.”
Was the process, which involved an egg donor as well as a surrogate, straightforward?
“No, very difficult. We didn’t get pregnant first time. It took several goes and every time it failed, I was terribly upset. Then we started all over again.
“It’s been a battle, a long road, but it’s kept me alive. Truthfully, if it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t
