Before a few decades ago, if a woman and a man were trying to conceive and weren’t having any luck, there wouldn’t have been much they could do. There would have been a stigma attached to you – perhaps even more so on your man - and you’d have had to go through life knowing you’d never be able to have kids, not your own biological kids anyway. But because of medical advances, a ton of people who back in the day wouldn’t have been able to have kids, those who are in the same predicament, are now able to have children.

Who’d have thought that after the first test-tube baby in 1978, a surrogacy contract would be written, and then just seven years later, the first successful gestational surrogate pregnancy would take place? Who would have thought the use of IVF and other such methods of having a baby would be as prevalent as they are today?

Men and women now have plenty of options, but it’s often a long road ahead, a road that probably starts with the struggle of infertility. This can be a really dark period, some don’t get out of it, but thankfully most eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel and it all works out for them and they have kids.

A lot of women have spoken about their problems trying to get pregnant, but in this article, I’m going to touch on men who’ve had the same predicament. These are 15 male celebrities who you didn’t know struggled with infertility at one point or another in their lives.

15 Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon has been really open about how he and his wife, film producer Nancy Juvonen, had tried tried and tried to conceive without any luck. After getting hitched in 2007, they were desperate to have kids, but it just didn’t happen for them. They tried and failed for over five years to conceive, a period which was a truly awful time for them both. Jimmy’s said they got really depressed about the whole situation, which was understandable, and weren’t rating their chances even when they explored other options. Infertility meant that Jimmy and Nancy had to go down another route to try and have kids, so they looked into surrogacy. Thankfully for them, surrogacy worked, and they were able to welcome two daughters into the family, Winnie and Frances. Winnie was born in 2013, and Jimmy’s said that they were really secretive about the whole surrogacy thing. In fact, they didn’t tell people until she was born, because they felt it would be “more fun” and shocking if people found out when they actually had their baby in their arms; shock it certainly did!

14 Keith Urban

Singer and songwriter, Keith Urban, met Nicole Kidman in 2005 at a Hollywood event celebrating Australians, and the couple began dating six months later. Neither had any biological kids of their own at that point and were eager to start a family, but it was a real struggle for them. Nicole has spoken about how she desperately wanted kids and that she found it really tough, and it was exactly the same for Keith. He struggled with infertility, but, as the saying goes, try, try and try again – that’s what he did with Nicole and their first daughter was born a couple of years later. It seemed like a miracle, but they wanted to add to their family, but this time it was a real struggle; the pair struggled with infertility and so they had to seek alternative options. They went down the surrogacy route, and then a couple of years after their first daughter was born, they announced the birth of their second daughter via a gestational carrier. This came as an almighty surprise to everyone, even their close family and friends, because they decided to keep the fact that they were going down the surrogacy route and having a second child together under wraps. It was for the surprise element, but also to give the surrogate mother privacy during the whole process, and their daughter privacy when she was born. Upon the birth of Faith via surrogacy, the overjoyed couple released a statement: "No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier."

13 Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg might have billions in the bank, might be living a life of luxury, might have a beautiful woman on him arm in Priscilla Chan, might be able to have and do pretty much whatever he wants whenever he wants, but there’s one thing that’s always been missing – the pitter patter of tiny little feet in the Zuckerberg household. For years and years that’s all he and his wife really wanted, but it just didn’t happen for them. He’s actually been really open about his struggles with infertility, about the tumultuous time he and his wife have endured over the years after their repeated efforts, trying and failing to conceive. They struggled with infertility for years, and then when they did get the news they were hoping for, it resulted in miscarriage – this happened three times. But happily for them, the pregnancy ran its full course and they had a daughter in 2015. They’re also currently expecting another daughter. It seems as if their struggles with infertility and pregnancy problems are now a thing of the past.

12 Bill Rancic

TV personality and successful entrepreneur, Bill Rancic, has made a name for himself in The States as being the man who was hired by Donald Trump upon the conclusion of his reality TV show, The Apprentice. He was the first candidate to be hired by the Trump Organization, and has since gone on to host a few shows, and take part in numerous business venture.

Bill and his wife, Giuliana, have been very open when it comes to discussing their fertility issues. They’ve regularly discussed everything they’ve gone through to try and conceive, and the utter heartache when it hasn’t worked out. Both suffered with infertility for many years, and so in their desire to have a baby, had to look at different options. Giuliana got pregnant through IVF treatment, but ended up suffering a miscarriage. She continued with the IVF, but then decided to go down the surrogacy route, and it was certainly the right decision. Through a surrogate, their son was born in 2012, and after all that heartache, that continued disappointment, their struggle with infertility, they finally had a cause for celebration.

11 Chris Henchy

Chris Henchy might not be the most well-known person on this list. That’s because rather than shining onscreen, like his wife Brooke Shields, Chris is known for his work offscreen as a screenwriter and producer. He went from Wall Street to comedy to writing sitcoms – a pretty big transition – and everything he tried his hand at he made a success, but he was yearning for something more, for kids which would’ve completed the picture. But it just didn’t happen, not in the conventional sense anyway. Chris and Brooke really struggled with infertility and found it heart-breaking every time that pregnancy test gave them the news they didn’t want. They had to look into something else, saw fertility specialists, and in the end, only after several rounds of IVF, did they finally get that positive test result. A few years after Chris’ first daughter was born, they had another, again through IVF – the miracle of modern day medicine.

10 Matthew Broderick

Actor and singer Matthew Broderick has been around for quite some time. He’s starred in and has lent his voice to a number of characters, such as Simba in the Lion King, and it was during this time, during his Lion King days, that he met and got hitched to Sarah Jessica Parker. They married in 1997, and actually didn’t have any trouble conceiving, and five years later Sarah fell pregnant and they welcomed their son into the world. But they wanted more kids, wanted to raise a family where the pitter patter of feet would drown out their own. So, although one kid was great, it was just the start, or at least that’s what they wanted. But it didn’t quite happen like that, not initially anyway.

After having a child, you don’t really expect to encounter any problems when trying to get pregnant again. You anticipate it’s going to be as easy as it was first time around, but it didn’t quite happen like that. It was a real struggle for Matt and Sarah to get pregnant again, and so after years of trying and struggling with infertility without having any luck, they looked into surrogacy. Their twin daughters were born in 2009. and Sarah said: "One really would have been thrilling and we would've felt incredibly lucky. And two was a comedy.”

9 Kanye West

Kanye West thinks he’s like a God at most things – his words – but he must have been praying to the almighty on more than once occasion when he and his girlfriend at the time, Kim, couldn’t conceive. They were desperate to have a baby, but it just wasn’t happening for them. They really were having a tumultuous time of it; both were struggling with infertility, and after numerous tests, plenty of treatments, it happened for the pair. Their fertility struggles left them exhausted, but then little North West was born, and it was all worth it, was all forgotten, for the time being anyway. North West being born was just amazing, what they always wanted, but as is usually the case in these situations, when you have one, you want another one, and Kim and Kanye went through their fertility struggles again. This time they really struggled, they wanted another kid so bad but it just wasn’t happening. This time around it was more to do with complications in Kim’s womb, but they struggled and persevered, and gave North West a baby brother.

8 Nick Cannon

Nick Cannon’s best known for his rapping, although he’s got plenty of other strings to his bow. In 2008, he got hitched to singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, and the pair wanted to start adding babies to their family pretty soon. But it just didn’t happen – they struggled with infertility and it was a really difficult time for them both. They did eventually manage to conceive, but tragically Mariah suffered a miscarriage. After the devastating loss, the couple kept on trying, but this time around they just couldn’t conceive; infertility was wreaking havoc in their lives. Both got tested, and Mariah ended up having a ton of different treatments. Medical intervention came good, and after a long and testing period, not to mention a mightily difficult pregnancy, Nick and Mariah welcomed twins into their family. Sadly the pair divorced last years, but as of last week rumors have been circulating that they’re now together again, so they could all become one big happy family again in the future.

7 Kyle Newman

Here’s a celeb who many of you might not be so familiar with, because this is one guy who works his magic offscreen as a filmmaker, a director. He’s worked with some stellar names in the movie industry, and his is a pretty big name itself, but he became even bigger, achieved more fame, when he got hitched to actress and former model, Jaime King. Everything appeared to be falling in place for Kyle. But the struggles soon started. The two were just desperate to have a baby and started trying straight away, but they really struggled with infertility and it took them six years of trying to finally conceive.

Kyle struggled with infertility, but as is always the case, it’s the woman, it was Jaime who had to have all the treatments. She too struggled with infertility, and even when she did conceive, there were major problems. Tragically she had five miscarriages, had five rounds of IVF, a whole host of complications, but due to some amazing work by nine different doctors, it finally happened and she had a successful pregnancy.

6 Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman’s one of only a few male celebs who’s come out and has been very open with his struggles with infertility. If celeb couples choose to speak about their struggles trying to conceive, it’s generally the women who divulges all, but Jackman’s been very candid about what he himself and his wife have gone through.

He’s said that he and his wife seriously struggled with infertility. No matter what they did, they just couldn’t conceive, so they went to fertility specialists and tried to get some medical help. His wife went through a series of IVF procedures, then when they did conceive, she suffered miscarriages. You can just imagine how difficult all of that must have been for them both. Most people on this list, once they go down the IVF or surrogacy route, they eventually get the news they were hoping for. But even after all these treatments, it just didn’t happen for them, so they were resigned to the fact that they weren’t going to have any biological children. His struggle with infertility and his wife’s problems couldn’t be overcome, to they went down the adoption route and adopted two kids. “You can’t even explain how incredible it is and that avalanche of emotion that comes. How it opens up your heart, how it frustrates you, how it angers you and … all of a sudden how alive you are,” Jackman said when talking about the adoption.

5 Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay’s another star who’s spoken about his fertility issues. The celebrity chef who pulls no punches in the kitchen, has had some major problems with fertility, as has his wife, and both have been extremely open about exactly what’s wrong, what the problem is. They tried to have kids for so long, but it didn’t happen, so that’s when they sought the help of fertility specialists and got checked out. It was discovered that Tana, Gordon’s wife, had polycystic ovarian syndrome, but Gordon had some issues too. He had low sperm count, so together with their problems, it was like a fertility disaster. This is where medical advancements in the area of fertility are just so amazing, because without IVF, the Ramsay’s would’ve only had a minute chance of being able to conceive; although having said that, the miracle did happen and they did conceive their fourth child without any medical help!

4 René Angélil

René Angélil was a Canadian musical producer, talent manager and singer, who achieved a lot of success during his time in the industry. Once of his major successes, as a manager anyway, was Céline Dion. He’s the one who spotted her, launched her, and propelled her into the limelight. He saw her tape, invited her for an audition, and the rest is history. They first met when she was 12, but by the time she was 18, they had started seeing each other, had started a relationship. They eventually got hitched, started trying to have kids, but had serious difficulty conceiving. It was the first time René had struggled with infertility, because he’d already been married before and had had three kids. But this time around it just didn’t happen. They went down the IVF route, but even then, they had plenty of struggles. It did eventually happen for the couple, and they ended up having a son, and then twin boys as a result of IVF.

3 John Legend

Today, John Legend’s regarded to be one of the best singer-songwriters of all time. He’s collaborated with some massive names, and has produced some amazing songs over the years. One song that’s propelled him even further into the limelight is “All of me,” which was written for his wife, model Chrissy Teigen.

The two wed in 2013 after four years of dating. They’d therefore been together for quite some time and didn’t want to wait around to have kids. They started trying but with no luck. Although it was a tumultuous period for them both, they’ve both been very open about their fertility struggles.

He’s revealed that their fertility doctors were never able to find any problems as to why they couldn’t conceive naturally, so there may still be hope in the future, but it doesn’t matter as far as they’re concerned because they had IVF treatments and last year their daughter was born. But their rough road to parenthood hasn’t made them content with one child; he’s said he wants another three and are currently going through IVF to expand their family – hope it all works out for the happy couple!

2 Courtney B. Vance

Actor Courtney B. Vance is best known for starring in feature films, such as in The Hunt for Red October. He achieved worldwide fame after that role and went on to achieve a ton of other accolades during the course of a glittering career, a career that’s still ongoing.

Courtney’s married to actress Angela Bassett, and the couple first discussed surrogacy during an interview with Oprah, and it was a really touching show as Angela discussed her love story with her husband, and how they went on to have twins through a surrogate. She also discussed what a blessing it was, because her and Courtney thought that they were destined to never have kids because they both struggled with fertility problems for quite some time before seeking help. It was a tumultuous time for them both, having gone through seven years of fertility treatments, failed IVF procedures, so they were thankful when a friend brought the option of surrogacy into their minds. Their friend, who didn’t look like she was expecting, told them she was five months pregnant. Confused, Angela began to ask questions which is when she learned they were using a surrogate, and Angela began to get some fresh hope. Herself and Courtney are now proud parents, after years and years of trying, and it’s all thanks to the medical marvel that is surrogacy.

1 Kurt Sutter

Screenwriter, director, producer, and actor, Kurt Sutter, got married to Katey Sagal in 2004, after the met and he cast her in his TV series, Sons of Anarchy. When they met, Katey already had kids, but due to issues with them conceiving, they toyed with the idea of surrogacy. Kurt had fertility issues and really struggled trying to conceive with Katey, so they had to look at other options. When Katey starred in the show, “Married…with Children” what seems like donkey’s years ago now in the 90s, she actually was married with kids, two in fact, with her hubby at the time, Jack White, so she didn’t have any troubles getting pregnant and having kids.

But things soured between the two, they ended up getting divorced, and Katey moved on to Kurt Sutter. They both tried to get pregnant and have kids of their own for a pretty long time, for over five years in fact, but weren’t having any luck. So, five years into their relationship, they began discussing the prospect of doing whatever was needed to raise a family together, and that meant surrogacy. Kurt was eager to have kids since he didn’t have any at that point, but Katey was too old to carry a baby at that stage in her life. So, they looked into surrogacy and IVF, and after a period of waiting and praying, it finally happened and they welcomed a little baby girl into their family.