Adrienne Bailon Kept A ‘Nerve-Wracking’ Pregnancy A Secret

Adrienne Bailon hasn’t been shy about sharing her fertility struggles with fans. But, when the Cheetah Girls star found out that the surrogate her and her husband Israel Houghton hired was pregnant back in December, she opted to keep the news to herself for the sake of her mental health.

Bailon first found out that her surrogate was pregnant on December 11, 2021. "Honestly, everyone was shocked," Bailon explained to PEOPLE, saying she only told six people close to her. "Even my sister, who watched The Real throughout the whole last season, literally said to me, 'Adrienne, I am impressed.' She's like, 'I am so proud of you. You are really holding this.' I did that because it was really sacred to me."

Bailon and Houghton welcomed their baby boy Ever James in August. They shared the news on Instagram on August 16. “Our baby boy is here & we are so in love! If you have followed our love story… you know that our journey to baby has been very challenging - But God is true to His word and His promises. We have quietly prayed while sitting on this most magnificent secret for the last 9 months,” Bailon captioned a sweet snap of her, her husband, and their son.

“He is worth every tear, every disappointment, every delayed prayer, every IVF cycle, every miscarriage. Everything. All we feel is joy and overwhelming love & gratitude. Grateful to God, to our angel surrogate and to all of our friends and family who have stood with us for over 5 years on this journey. He’s here and we have never been happier to lose sleep!”

Having experience five years that is the emotional rollercoaster of navigating fertility issues, Bailon felt this was an important move for “my own mental wellbeing and for my family. I was just like, 'I'm just not going to say anything.' It was actually very peaceful that way. You didn't have other people's opinions."

The former The Real host has previously experienced eight failed in-vitro fertilization cycles and a miscarriage. She then decided to look into surrogacy, which she admits was “quite nerve-wracking.”

"Somebody else has your child with them. We call it extreme babysitting for nine months. It can cause you to be really anxious. You're just thinking, 'Oh, is everything going okay? What's happening?' I feel like having people ask me, 'How's everything going?' That was going to make me that much more anxious, so I just wanted to have peace and have a little joy that I could hold for myself every day and something to look forward to."

Congrats to the new family of three!