Tom Daley has opened up about the difficult journey he and his husband Dustin Lance Black faced when having their son Robbie.
When speaking on Giovanna Fletcher’s podcast Happy Mum, Happy Baby, Tom opened up about how hard it is for same-sex couples to start a family.
The 27-year-old said, “We looked at the process of adoption and then we also looked at the process of surrogacy both in the US and in the UK”.
The Olympian opened up about losing his dad to cancer in 2011, which led him down the surrogacy route instead of adoption.
“I’d lost my dad, Lance had recently lost his mum and also his brother. We’d lost so many people in our families, there was something about surrogacy that we were drawn to that just meant we could pass on the people that we’ve lost, their genes... their thoughts, their feelings, their personalities”.
The couple opted to start their surrogacy journey in California instead of in England because there are, “A lot of hurdles to have to jump over in the UK”, and Lance (47) is also from there.
Daley said that he and Lance’s relationship with their surrogate was great and they were lucky to remain close with her throughout the pregnancy. “We got to meet her and her family and we got to talk about her life, what she’s been doing, her interests and what we’re doing and why building a family is so important to us.
The Olympic gold medalist believes that surrogates are “guardian angels”. He explained, “They are so incredible, there’s no words to explain how grateful you can be to someone”.
He went on to describe his surrogate. “She’s so special, we speak to her all the time”.
The dad-of-one has said that he and Lance are very open with their son about how he came into the world and who his surrogate is. “We explain to Robbie that she is Robbie’s tummy buddy and that’s how he came into the world and we’ve always been really open and honest with him about how everything works to a level that he can understand".
When talking more to Giovanna about surrogacy, Tom explains, “It’s just like a really magical experience where you gain a whole other dimension to your family, not just through Robbie but through our surrogate’s family as well”.
Giovanna then asked the sportsman how he felt when their surrogate agreed she would carry their child for them. He replied with laughter saying that he and Lance cried a lot and thought, “Oh my gosh she’s going to actually help us build our family”.
Tom and Lance’s surrogate decided to remain anonymous throughout their journey. The happy couple welcomed little Robbie into the world in June 2018. Tom revealed that he was lucky enough to have skin-to-skin contact first with their bundle of joy.
