Maria Menounos cut off ‘judgmental’ friend over ‘crazy’ comment about having baby via surrogate

Maria Menounos shared that she ended a friendship with someone who “judged” her for having a baby via surrogate.

The former E! News host talked about her journey to motherhood in Monday’s episode of the “Women in the Nude” podcast after host Sasha Pieterse asked whether anybody gave her “s–t” for turning to surrogacy.

“It’s funny because we have some — well, they were friends. One of them worked for me for a while, and this is somebody who was, like, so sweet and I loved,” Menounos recalled.

Maria Menounos spoke about a friend judging her for having a baby via surrogacy on the “Women in the Nude” podcast Monday. Women in the Nude The entertainment journalist recalled someone giving her “s–t” for using a surrogate. mariamenounos/Instagram

The entertainment journalist, 46, claimed the unnamed friend went up to her husband, Keven Undergaro, and asked him, “‘What do you mean she can’t carry? Like, that doesn’t make any sense.'”

Undergaro, 57, explained that Menounos’ neurosurgeon had advised her not to carry their own child because of complications from a brain tumor removal in 2017.

“[The friend] was like, ‘I just don’t get it. It just doesn’t make any sense,'” the former “Extra” host remembered. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I never want to talk to you again, and I never want to see you again.'”

Menounos and her husband, Keven Undergaro, chose to conceive via a surrogate after she faced complications from a brain tumor removal. mariamenounos/Instagram The former “Extra” host cut ties with her “judgmental” friend. GC Images

Menounos said it was “one thing to be judged by outside people who don’t know and don’t get it,” but it was another thing to be judged by someone who “actually” knew her personally.

“For you to even say anything so judgmental is just crazy to me,” she concluded.

Menounos and Undergaro, who tied the knot in 2017, underwent IVF treatments before doctors discovered her brain tumor. While the tumor was successfully removed, she was still advised against carrying her own child.

The couple welcomed daughter Athena in June 2023. Instagram/mariamenounos Menounos and Undergaro tied the knot in 2017. Instagram/mariamenounos

The couple was eventually able to conceive a child with the help of a surrogate in 2022.

However, Menounos faced another health scare during the pregnancy when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had to get parts of her pancreas, spleen and lymph nodes removed. She was later declared cancer-free.

The former “Today” show correspondent and the CEO of AfterBuzz TV welcomed daughter Athena Alexandra in June 2023.