+
Pop Culture

Spanish TV star becomes mother and grandmother of her deceased son's child through surrogacy

Ana Obregón's son died of cancer in 2020, and she said his dying wish was to have a child.

Ana Obregón; grandchild surrogacy; Spanish TV star; surrogate pregnancy; modern families

Ana Obregón has grandbaby via surrogate.

Losing a child is tragic no matter their age, and many parents would do whatever they could to preserve their child's memory or fulfill their final wishes. If you ask Spanish TV star, Ana Obregón, that's exactly what she did when she decided to welcome a grandchild through surrogacy.

The actress's decision is causing a lot of conversation and backlash for multiple reasons. In Spain, surrogacy is illegal and the sperm of a deceased loved one can only be used to impregnate the widow up to 12 months after the husband's death, according to CNN. This detail didn't deter Obregón.

The grandmother used a surrogate and egg donor from the United States, where surrogacy is legal, and Obregón's grandchild is an American citizen. Ana Sandra Lequio Obregón was born in Miami, Florida March 20, Obregón told Hola! magazine.


The discussions in Spain, aside from the ethical concerns, are related to the legality of bringing a baby born via surrogate back to Spain where the procedure is illegal. It seems that Obregón will not be in any legal trouble though, as the baby is legally her daughter, though biologically her granddaughter.

While people may be perplexed or even uncomfortable with the dual title of Obregón, it should be noted that grandparents legally adopt their grandchildren all the time if circumstances warrant it. This then gives the grandparent who adopts dual titles as parent and grandparent. One of the most famous examples of this situation is Olympic athlete Simone Biles.

“This girl isn’t my daughter, but my granddaughter,” Obregón told Hola! “She is Aless’ daughter and when she grows up I will tell her that her father was a hero.”

But some people in Spain are having strong feelings about the morality of conceiving a grandchild in this manner, with a philosophy professor likening it to an episode of "Black Mirror," according to CNN. The naysayers aren't deterring the new grandmother's excitement, though. Obregón told Hola! it took three years to conceive her grandchild, explaining that though it was a long process, it is what has kept the 68-year-old alive.

In the caption of her Instagram post sharing the interview, Obregón wrote, "My Aless: I swore I would save you from cancer, and I failed you. I promised you I'd bring your daughter into the world and here she is in my arms."

"When I hug her, it's an indescribable feeling because it's as if I were hugging you again," she continued. "I swear that I will take care of her with the infinite love that I have to give, and from heaven, you will help me."

The new grandmother finished her heartfelt post, written in Spanish, by saying that her son was the love of her life in heaven while his daughter is now the love of her life on Earth.

While the process to have a grandchild through surrogacy isn't something that is traditional or common, it seems to be what worked for Obregón. She's even open to having more grandchildren via surrogacy since her son reportedly wanted a large family.

The grandmother and granddaughter are still in the United States awaiting the baby's American passport to fly home to Spain. In the meantime, here's hoping for safe travels, a happy healthy baby, and hopefully a nanny because sleep deprivation at 68 is probably a whole different level of exhaustion.

True

We’ve all been hearing urgent warnings from scientists, government, and corporate leaders on the need to limit the planet's global temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Several studies, including research from the National Academy of Sciences indicate if we continue on the path we are on, we will likely hit that pivotal moment of global warming in the early 2030s. It’s clear that more needs to be done —and faster—to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and secure a thriving and sustainable economy for everyone.

Broader research is also showing people care more than ever about what companies are doing to address this challenge. In a 2022 global survey from IBM, 51% of respondents said environmental sustainability is more important to them now than it was the year before. And a 2022 Yale survey found that 51% of U.S. business students would even take lower pay to work for a company with better environmental practices — a signal of the topic's importance.

T-Mobile is an example of a company that has led the wireless industry in these efforts starting with its pledge in 2018 to source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy and being the first in U.S. wireless to set science-based carbon reduction goals and then reach them in 2021. This year, T-Mobile stepped up even more by becoming the first U.S. wireless provider to announce a net-zero target for its entire carbon footprint.

Keep ReadingShow less

They've blinded us with science.

Stock photos of any job are usually delightful cringey. Sure, sometimes they sort of get the essence of a job, but a lot of the time the interpretation is downright cartoonish. One glance and it becomes abundantly clear that for some careers, we have no freakin’ clue what it is that people do.

Dr. Kit Chapman, an award-winning science journalist and academic at Falmouth University in the U.K., recently held an impromptu contest on Twitter where viewers could vote on which photos were the best of the worst when it came to jobs in scientific fields.

According to Chapman’s entries, a day in the life of a scientist includes poking syringes into chickens, wearing a lab coat (unless you’re a “sexy” scientist, then you wear lingerie) and holding vials of colored liquid. Lots and lots of vials.

Of course, where each image is 100% inaccurate, they are 100% giggle inducing. Take a look below at some of the contenders.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

$725 million Facebook settlement means you could be entitled to some free cash

Anyone who used Facebook between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022 is eligible, and it only requires filling out a simple form.

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Facebook has to pay users for a data privacy violation.

Let me tell you a brief but true story about Facebook settlements:

A couple of years ago, my husband and I saw an article about a Facebook lawsuit settlement in Illinois. We'd lived in the state and used Facebook during the dates the settlement covered, so we took two minutes to fill out a simple form.

Then we forgot about it.

Last year, we each got a $397 check from Facebook in the mail.

The End.

(Told you it would be brief.)

When people see headlines about lawsuit settlements, they often assume either that they aren't eligible or that receiving part of the settlement will involve a whole bunch of red tape. It's often just as simple as it sounds, though, and people who assume otherwise leave money on the table.

Keep ReadingShow less

Stop what you're doing. There's a dog that looks just like Snoopy.

Soooo, there's this dog and I'm pretty sure it's the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can't be true, then you're going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown's pet from the comic strip "Peanuts" that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch's Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she's real.

Keep ReadingShow less

Phil Collins and George Harrison

Beatle George Harrison was pigeon-holed as the "Quiet Beatle," but the youngest member of the Fab Four had an acerbic, dry sense of humor that was as sharp as the rest of his bandmates.

He gave great performances in the musical comedy classics, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help!" while holding his own during The Beatles' notoriously anarchic press conferences. After he left the band in 1970, in addition to his musical career, he would produce the 1979 Monty Python classic, "The Life of Brian."

Keep ReadingShow less

An Italian preschooler's Italian rant has people in stitches.

All people have a need to communicate, but the way we do that varies greatly from place to place. Every culture has its own communication peculiarities that make our human family delightfully diverse.

Not only do humans speak thousands of languages around the world, but we also engage in culturally specific speaking styles, speech patterns and body language, some of which are immediately identifiable.

Case in point: the Italian "finger purse."

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

After causing an unexpected stir, Drew Barrymore explains why she 'doesn't need sex'

'At nearly 48 I have very different feelings about intimacy than I did growing up.'

Drew Barrymore attends the 26th Annual Webby Awards on May 16, 2022 in New York City.

In late September, talk show host Drew Barrymore made an off-hand comment about sex that caused an unexpected stir. During a “Drew’s News” segment with Ross Mathews, the two discussed Andrew Garfield’s admission he abstained from sex for six months while filming Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film “Silence.”

“I get abstaining from sex, I mean I did that my entire 20s, right?” Mathews joked, to which Barrymore responded, “What’s wrong with me that six months doesn’t seem like a very long time? I was like, ‘Yeah so?'”

“We buried the lede there, that’s the headline. Drew can go six months, no big deal,” Mathews added. “Years,” Barrymore confirmed.

Keep ReadingShow less