Pregnant Emma Roberts Recalls the "Difficult" Process of Freezing Her Eggs After Endometriosis Diagnosis

While Emma Roberts is currently pregnant, the star recalled her fertility concerns after being diagnosed with endometriosis. Keep reading for what she had to say about freezing her eggs.

Emma Roberts is baring her bump—and her soul. 

It's no secret by now that the Holidate star is expecting her first child with boyfriend Garrett Hedlund. In fact, as the star of Cosmopolitan's December/January issue, the pregnant actress' baby bump took center stage during the shoot. In an accompanying interview with author Stephanie Danler, the 29-year-old star went deeper, pulling back the curtain on her endometriosis diagnosis, fertility revelations, freezing her eggs and her eventual baby news. 

"At 16, I thought, By the time I'm 24, I'll be married with kids. And then I was 24 and I was like, Remember when I said I would be married with kids by now?" she recalled in the interview. "With work, especially with acting—the travel, the hours—it's not always conducive to settling down in a traditional way."

However, having children became more of a conscious priority after Roberts learned she had been suffering from undiagnosed endometriosis since her teenage years. "I always had debilitating cramps and periods, so bad that I would miss school and, later, have to cancel meetings," she explained. "I mentioned this to my doctor, who didn't look into it and sent me on my way because maybe I was being dramatic? In my late 20s, I just had a feeling I needed to switch to a female doctor. It was the best decision. She ran tests, sent me to a specialist. Finally, there was validation that I wasn't being dramatic. But by then, it had affected my fertility. I was told, 'You should probably freeze your eggs or look into other options.'"

The timing wasn't seamless. "I said, 'I'm working right now. I don't have time to freeze my eggs,'" the star shared. "To be honest, I was also terrified. Just the thought of going through that and finding out, perhaps, that I wouldn't be able to have kids."

Beyond the physical, Roberts recalled feeling like she had "done something wrong," though through speaking with other women, she eventually realized that wasn't at all the case. "I started opening up to other women, and all of a sudden, there was a new world of conversation about endometriosis, infertility, miscarriages, fear of having kids," she said. "I was so grateful to find out I was not alone in this. I hadn't done anything 'wrong' after all."

Roberts confirmed she did eventually freeze her eggs, describing it as a "difficult process." However, it's unclear if that's how she conceived. As she explained, "It sounds cheesy, but the moment that I stopped thinking about it, we got pregnant." 

However, the star was hesitant to get excited in the event that something went wrong and initially kept her pregnancy news to a close circle of loved ones. "This pregnancy made me realize that the only plan you can have," she said, "is that there is no plan."

Now, as Roberts awaits her baby boy with Hedlund, the soon-to-be mama is looking forward to creating a happy life for her little one. "It's a beautiful thing to know that you're in charge of creating your child's world. I take that so seriously," she told Danler. "Even just putting his nursery together, that's the first environment he's going to be in. Sometimes I think about seeing him in the morning and how I want to say good morning to him and how I want to put him to bed at night, all those things that end up creating your sense of safety. Sometimes it's scary, though, because I'm responsible for this child's world and memories, and I want to make it all wonderful."

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The December/January issue of Cosmopolitan hits newsstands on Nov. 24.  

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