Restarting her fertility journey in her 40s was “definitely a challenge, physically and psychologically,” singer says

Robyn shares ‘hardcore’ IVF journey as single mom: ‘It was a f---ing rollercoaster’

Restarting her fertility journey in her 40s was "definitely a challenge, physically and psychologically," singer says

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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March 30, 2026 1:24 p.m. ET

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Robyn at a SiriusXM event in January. Credit:

Michael Loccisano/Getty

Robyn is opening up about her IVF experience as a single mother in her 40s.

The “Dancing on My Own” singer first announced that she’d welcomed her first child, son Tyko, in 2023. In a recent interview with *The Guardian**, *she opened up about her “pretty hardcore” fertility journey and parenting on her own.

“I thought it would happen much sooner,” Robyn told the outlet about having kids. “But then I think motherhood in a conventional heterosexual relationship, in my life at least, has been really hard to reconcile with what I think I would have to do to make that work.”

Robyn at Paris Fashion Week last October.

Pierre Suu/Getty

The Grammy-nominated singer explained that she held off on starting a family because “the idea of having children in the relationships I was in felt like a very risky thing to do” at the time.

“I would have been able to accept things that weren’t great in a relationship without children,” she said. “But, when kids exist, every single thing that the other person does is so important. The idea of having children in the relationships I was in felt like a very risky thing to do. I just felt [like] that was more scary than waiting.”

Robyn revealed that she’d originally frozen her eggs at age 34, but that she had to start the process over again in her 40s after being unable to access them due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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“I didn’t know if it was going to work. I did a few rounds. It was a f---ing rollercoaster, but also it makes you think about things that you otherwise wouldn’t,” she said. “What is my identity as someone with children, and what is it without? It’s extremely existential.”

The “Call Your Girlfriend” singer noted that it was challenging both physically and emotionally going through the process alone. “I had seen myself having a kid in a stable relationship. I was sad to let go of that,” she said. “It felt like a failure.”

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She continued, “I don’t think any human being can say, ‘I have a right to have a child.’ But if you want it, you can’t really question your desire to be a parent. You can question how you do it and who you do it with, but you can’t question the actual need. It’s like saying, ‘Why are we here?’”

While Robyn noted that her fertility journey came with its own hardships, she called the entire experience a “privilege” that she doesn’t take for granted. “It is pretty hardcore. It’s definitely a challenge, physically and psychologically,” she said. Putting on a comedic voice, she added, “But ‘boohoo, I had to do IVF,' it’s also a privilege. The fact that it’s even possible! It’s something that costs money, and a lot of people don’t even have the option.”

Robyn at an SNL50 event in February, 2025.

John Nacion/Getty

She also shed light on what it's been like raising Tyko as a single parent.

“It’s very, very taxing to be a single mum or dad. I grew up that way,” she said, referring to her parents’ own divorce when she was a child. “My mother was tired and she was struggling, and I just didn’t want to repeat things that I’d been through as a kid.”

She added, “I don’t want to expose my mum. She’s a great mum, but, you know, just the lack of time, the lack of energy to be present, to not feel happy with your situation."

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