The Too Hot To Handle star said that the experience is “extremely hard on your mental health” in a new interview
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM (@JESSESULLI)
Too Hot To Handle’s Francesca Farago and her fiancé Jesse Sullivan have shared the struggles they’ve experienced with their joint IVF. In an interview with Page Six, the couple revealed that the IVF process is “a lot more mentally and physically taxing than [either of them] realised”.
Jesse came out as trans in 2019, and the pair met for the first time in 2021. They officially announced their relationship in March 2022. Starting a family together has always been on the power couple’s minds.
“It was one of our really early-on conversations. And the way that we spoke about it in that car is the way we actually ended up doing it, which is crazy,” Francesca said.
While the pair originally were set on getting married in 2024, they have swapped wedding planning for the IVF process. “You start off with some appointments, some ultrasounds, some blood work,” Francesca explained. “And then you go on hormones for 10 to 12 days. So every day, you inject a certain amount of hormones. [Jesse] had to inject a lot because he didn’t have as many eggs.”
Jesse revealed that he has stopped his hormone replacement therapy treatment while undergoing IVF to give him the best chance of producing eggs.
The couple has already chosen their sperm donor and have been able to create a total of 18 embryos which are now being sent off for genetic testing, which will determine their in-utero viability.
Reality TV star Francesca was especially candid about the mental toll the experience has taken on her. “It’s extremely hard on your mental health. You’re freaking out, you feel terrible, you’re tired, you’re bloated, you feel depressed in a way,” she said in the interview.
It’s not been all doom and gloom for the couple. They explained that it has been a “joyful” experience for them because the clinic they have chosen has “rainbow flags and trans flags” throughout the facility. For Jesse, this was particularly important, and has helped him feel “safe”.
“They were just so careful with me. They knew it was a very difficult process as a trans man to go into those situations that are considered female and for women, and they were just so sensitive to me,” he said.
Francesca and Jesse are hoping to give Jesse’s 15-year-old child Arlo four siblings! We’re rooting for them!
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