Lily Collins’ Husband Just Shut Down “Unkind” Surrogacy Criticism

New dad Charlie McDowell isn’t letting anyone ruin his family’s special moment. After he and his wife, Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, were inundated with brutal social media comments for using a surrogate, he quickly stepped in to quiet the critics.

Focusing On Love

The couple announced the birth of their daughter in a joint Instagram post on Jan. 31. “Welcome to the center of our world Tove Jane McDowell,” Collins’ caption read. “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…”

While many of their followers immediately celebrated Tove’s arrival, others put a damper on the announcement with their harsh words. The “unkind messages,” as McDowell later put it, took issue with surrogacy, and many insinuated the couple had “bought” their baby. Nonetheless, McDowell’s response was measured and empathetic.

“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 wrote, in part. “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.”

Amid the backlash, Collins and McDowell had loud supporters, too. The couple received sweet congratulations from actors Ashley Park, Sarah Hyland, Billie Lourd, Katherine Langford, and more. In McDowell’s response, he acknowledged them before the trolls, sending thanks for “all of the kind messages and love.”

Path To Parenthood

The couple hasn’t addressed the reasoning behind their decision to use a surrogate — and there’s no reason they should have to. Collins did, however, make it clear in the past that she was hoping to become a mother. In fact, the desire helped her with her eating disorder recovery, as she told Us Weekly in a 2017 interview.

“My reason to finally start talking about it was the moment I realized I wanted a family,” she said of opening up about her past struggles. “I wanted kids. I didn’t want this to be something I bring into that.”

Collins also shared her fears that she wouldn’t be able to have children in her 2017 book, Unfiltered. “My period stopped for a couple of years and I was terrified I had ruined my chances of having kids,” she wrote, according to People.

McDowell has been looking forward to parenthood, too. Not long after the two celebrated their three-year wedding anniversary, he teased that kids were in their future. “We would like to move into that next stage, so we’ll see when it happens!” he told E! in October 2024.

Now that their daughter is here, he doesn’t seem to be letting any hate keep him down. His response to the critics concluded with a lighthearted signoff: “That’s all for now because she just pooped and I need to change her diaper.”