Lily Collins’ Husband Charlie McDowell Defends Surrogacy Journey

After Lily Collins and husband Charlie McDowell welcomed their first child via surrogate, the director is shutting down criticism regarding their “path to having a baby.”

“Thank you for all the kind messages and love. We are overjoyed and very grateful,” McDowell, 41, wrote via Instagram comment on Friday, January 31. “In regards to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby — it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy.”

He continued, “It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child. It’s OK to not know the motivations of a surrogate regardless of what you assume. And it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regards to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives. That’s all for now because she just pooped and I need to change her diaper.”

Several hours earlier, McDowell and Collins, 35, confirmed they welcomed daughter Tove Jane via gestational carrier.

“Welcome to the center of our world,” the Emily in Paris star captioned a social media upload. “Words will never express our endless gratitude for our incredible surrogate and everyone who helped us along the way. We love you to the moon and back again.”

Collins and McDowell, the son of actress Mary Steenburgen and a director in his own right, have been together since 2019. They tied the knot in September 2021.

“I knew the second that I met him that I wanted to be his wife one day and so it was just a matter of when, really,” Lily, the daughter of Genesis rocker Phil Collins, said on a 2020 episode of Live With Kelly and Mark, detailing McDowell’s proposal. “It was all very much pre-planned. He did a self-timer video, which we were then able to then later get screen grabs. But he set the whole thing up without me knowing, obviously. … I was very, very surprised by it, but it’s exactly what I would’ve wanted, and he knew me so well.”

Lily had previously been candid about her desire to become a parent one day, telling Us Weekly in 2017 that her recovery from an eating disorder also played a part.

“Everyone has a different form of recovery. I never had an ‘aha’ moment,” she exclusively told Us in July 2017. “My reason to finally start talking about [my eating disorder] was the moment I realized I wanted a family. I wanted kids. I didn’t want this to be something I bring into that.”

According to the actress, her past dietary struggles felt “consuming” and “overwhelming.”

“You get used to being the girl with the eating disorder or someone that has a problem. It starts to define who you are,” Lily told Us at the time. “But when you step outside that and you’re able to disassociate with it, you realize just how much stronger and healthier you are, and how titles don’t define you.”