Renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, has stated that she decided to share personal details about having her twin boys so other Nigerian women dealing with infertility will not feel pressured.
Speaking during the debut live edition of the #WithChude talk show on Sunday, the 47-year-old author explained that she hoped her openness would ease the societal pressure many women face regarding fertility.
The award-winning writer, who is married to a medical doctor, Ivara Esege, stressed the need to dismantle the culture of shame that surrounds women’s reproductive health and fertility challenges.
“I felt that there were many women who would then be pressured by people saying, ‘look, Chimamanda is 47 and she had kids at that age, what about you?
“There is so much shame around issues of fertility, and I just think it’s too much of a burden for women.
“Women are ashamed when they have fibroids, women are ashamed when they have issues getting pregnant – and I don’t believe in that sort of shame,” she said.
The ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ author added that while she had some initial regrets about revealing the details of her children’s birth, her hope was that her honesty would help normalise conversations around non-traditional paths to motherhood.
“My boys are so precious to me. And I hated that anything about them would become politicised. So, on the one hand, I thought, ‘I wish I hadn’t talked about it,’ but on the other hand, there is no way I am going to lie about the process of birthing them.
“I am hoping that if anything good comes out of this, it would be that more women are less ashamed of talking about reaching motherhood through non-traditional means. Our society is so judgemental, and I don’t think that is good for anybody,” she said.