Kerstin Emhoff, the former wife of Vice President Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff, has revealed that she "struggled" with fertility during the time she was with him.
Film producer Kerstin Emhoff was married to Doug Emhoff between 1992 and 2008. The former couple have two children, Cole and Ella. After divorcing, Kerstin Emhoff chose to keep her married name and remains on good terms with her ex.
Doug Emhoff, 59, went on to marry Harris, also 59, in 2014, and his ex-wife has been seen publicly supporting the couple as the vice president ramps up her bid to succeed President Joe Biden in the White House.
On Tuesday, Kerstin Emhoff, 57, made a personal revelation when she weighed in on Republicans once again blocking the Right to IVF Act, which was sponsored by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth. The vote was the latest effort by Democrats to highlight policy differences between Harris, the Democratic nominee, and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, ahead of November's election.
The 51-44 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward on the bill, with only two Republicans—Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—voting in favor. Democrats have said that Republicans who maintain they support IVF are being hypocritical by refusing to support legislation that guarantees a right to it. Some Republicans have dismissed the bill as a publicity stunt by Democrats.
Sharing her own position on the matter, Kerstin Emhoff responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter, where the Harris campaign announced: "Republicans vote to block the Right to IVF Act."
"The proof is right here," Kerstin Emhoff commented. "How can anyone not support the advances that have been achieved for couples struggling with infertility but then complain about population decline. So we are supposed to go back to having all of our kids before we are 30? I struggled even at 26."
Reacting to the post, an X user told the producer: "To be fair yes women should be having kids before 30. Why do you want to be old and tired and your eggs are just as old? Yes you should aim to have babies when you're young. Yet you don't care the reason for your infertility or why. Hint [it's because of the government] and they want you sterile."
"To be really fair, maybe a woman is still in school, maybe she's studying to be a doctor?" Kerstin Emhoff wrote back. "Women should be free to make the decision to have kids when they are ready to!"
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Doug Emhoff and Kerstin Emhoff via email for comment.
This summer, Kerstin Emhoff was among those to speak out after a 2001 video of Trump's running mate JD Vance calling Harris and other members of the Democratic Party "childless cat ladies."
"These are baseless attacks," she said in a statement to CNN. "For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it."
Model Ella Emhoff also weighed in, writing in an Instagram Story post: "How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I."
"I love my three parents," she added.
In a New York Times interview after Biden and Harris won the election in 2020, Ella Emhoff described the relationship between her parents and her stepmother as positive.
"They have good communication between the three of them. They are really a unit, like a three-person parenting squad. It's really cool," she told the publication.
Harris previously revealed that she is known as "Momala" to her stepchildren. She previously shared a photo of them posing together on Instagram, and wrote in the caption: "Grateful every day to be Momala to Ella and Cole."
In 2019, she wrote of the two in a personal essay published by Elle: "They are brilliant, talented, funny kids who have grown to be remarkable adults. I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in."
When Cole Emhoff married his partner Greenley Littlejohn last year, it was Harris who officiated at the ceremony.
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