Andy Cohen reveals daughter's birth via gestational surrogacy was 'one of the first' in NY

Andy Cohen’s little girl helped make history in the Big Apple.

During an appearance last week on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast, Cohen revealed that his 1-year-old daughter, Lucy, was one of the first children born via gestational surrogacy in the state of New York.

Gestational surrogacy, a procedure in which the surrogate does not provide their own egg for fertilization, was illegal in New York until the passage of the Child-Parent Security Act, which legalized the practice in February 2021, according to the New York Department of Health official website.

"(Gestational) surrogacy was illegal in the state of New York, and I helped get that law passed," Cohen told host Amanda Hirsch on Tuesday. "And Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo, he really made it happen."

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Cohen said his surrogacy advocacy, coupled with his desire to have his baby born in New York, accounts for the three-year age gap between his son Benjamin, 4, and Lucy. Cohen’s son was also born via surrogate.

"I went to Albany a couple of times, and I was out there trying to get (the law) passed," Cohen said. "I wanted my surrogate to have the baby in New York, and so Lucy was one of the first surrogate babies born here."

He added: "But also, it was good because it gave me a lot of time to kind of get good at (fatherhood) with Ben."

Cohen became a dad of two when he welcomed his daughter in April 2022. "Thank you to my rock star surrogate (ALL surrogates are rockstars, by the way) and everyone who helped make this miracle happen," he wrote on Instagram at the time.

The "Watch What Happens Live" host gets candid about the "weight of being a single parent" in his latest book "The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up."

"I feel like it's kind of a race against my own sense of 'Can I do it all?' and 'Can I be healthy?' and 'Can I do it all without having a nervous breakdown?'" Cohen told USA TODAY in May of balancing parenthood with his demanding career.

"When I see another kid having a tantrum on the street, I feel seen as a parent, so I think that parents will feel seen reading this book," Cohen said. "People could look at my life and think, 'Oh, this guy must just have this wonderful, drama-free life.' And I think you read the book and you see, look, I'm dealing with everything you're dealing with."

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Contributing: Charles Trepany

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Andy Cohen talks gestational surrogacy birth of daughter in NY