Model and TV host Chrissy Teigen has defended her decision to chose the gender of her baby during IVF treatment.
The American star, who is expecting her first child with husband, musician John Legend, in autumn, has spoken openly about her fertility struggles, and in a recent interview with People magazine confirmed she selected a female embryo during in vitro fertilization to ensure their first child was a daughter.
“Not only am I having a girl, but I picked the girl from her little embryo. I picked her and was like, ‘Let’s put in the girl’,” Chrissy, 30, told the magazine.
However, she has been forced to defend her decision after being attacked on social media.
In New Zealand, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which tests for some inherited conditions and chromosomal abnormalities cannot be used for social reasons, such as gender selection.
Before she got pregnant, Chrissy had revealed she and John would like to have a big family.
“I will say honestly John and I were having trouble,’ she admitted. ‘We would have had kids five, six years ago if it happened.
“We’ve seen fertility doctors and once you open up about those things to other people you learn that a lot of other people in your life are seeing these people and they have this shame about it.”
