Former Bachelorette Katie Thurston has opened up about having children with her husband, Jeff Arcuri, amid her breast cancer treatment.
The 35-year-old comedian did a Q&A session on Instagram on Friday, after revealing her cancer had advanced to stage four. In her Instagram Story, she responded to a fan who asked her if she’d have to use a surrogate to have a baby.
“I never like the word ‘have to’ with anything medical related,” Thurston responded. “Kind of like ‘never say never.’ However, yes, Jeff and I discussed the importance of my health and that when the time comes, surrogacy will likely be the best option for us.”
She then hit back at anyone who would criticize celebrities for how they choose to have a child.
“A friendly reminder to stop judging celebrities who pursue surrogacy because you don’t know what they have going on in their personal lives,” she concluded.
In February, the TV star, who starred in season 17 of The Bachelorette, had found a small lump in her breast and thought “it was going to be nothing.” She underwent a mammogram and biopsy to learn that she had breast cancer.
During an interview with Us Weekly earlier this month, Thurston also revealed that she and Arcuri did a round of IVF ahead of her cancer treatment so that they could start a family in the future.
“We dedicated two weeks before doing anything else breast cancer-wise to doing IVF,” Thurston said. “A lot of women don’t even realize that you can take 10 days to dedicate time to your reproductive health and your future family plans. We were able to retrieve 17 eggs and of those 17, six became embryos.”
Thurston praised her partner for supporting her throughout the process. “He’s been to every single appointment with me so far. He’s done every single shot that’s involved with IVF,” she added.
On Friday, four days after she revealed her disease spread to stage three, Thurston confirmed she now had stage four breast cancer.
“After days of waiting, unfortunately, I did find out today that my breast cancer has spread to the liver. It is fairly small, however, that does put me at stage four,” she shared in a video on Instagram.
However, she acknowledged that she has a “new treatment plan” in place, which “does involve chemo,” and she was feeling confident.
“I know stage four can sound very scary, and it can be,” she added. “Given that I am triple positive and the spots on my liver are fairly small and detected early, I feel very optimistic on my outcome. I’m very confident in the team at Columbia and I just wanted to share that update.”
Earlier this month, Thurston wed Arcuri in an impromptu and intimate ceremony with their parents in New York City. The pair met on Instagram a year ago and got engaged five months later. However, it was Arcuri who suggested they move the wedding to an earlier date to show that he was “here to stay” throughout his now-wife’s cancer treatment.
“We were wanting to plan a wedding and there’s a lot of emotions that come in with chemo, and the impact… we don’t know what the next year looks like,” Thurston told Us Weekly ahead of the wedding. “One night, he said, I want to show you that I still love you and I am here to stay. And he said ‘I will get married to you tomorrow’. So we flew our parents in, we got our marriage license and a friend is going to marry us in our apartment.”
Thurston was the star of season 17 of The Bachelorette after she was a previous contestant on Matt James’ season of The Bachelor. During The Bachelorette season, Thurston got engaged to Blake Moynes. However, the pair announced their breakup in October 2021, only three months after the season finale aired.
