The ‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Didn’t Find Love in 4 Marriages but Became a Mother at 44 Thanks to Surrogacy — Meet Her 2 Sons

Behind the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, even the most iconic stars face personal challenges. For this famous actress, known for her decades-long role on “Days of Our Lives,” the pursuit of a family was filled with heartache.

Four marriages came and went, and after years of trying to conceive, she struggled with infertility. But she never gave up on her dream of becoming a mother. In her 40s, she turned to surrogacy, a decision that would finally give her the family she had longed for.

A Journey of Fame and Love

This beloved star of “Days of Our Lives” became a household name through her portrayal of Marlena Evans, a psychiatrist on the long-running soap opera. However, before she rose to fame, her career began quite unexpectedly.

While attending college, she found herself in Los Angeles, where she decided to make some extra money on the side by modeling. This led to a series of opportunities, with an agent encouraging her to try print and commercial work.

Before long, her part-time gig blossomed into a full-time acting career. “I kept thinking, ‘Well, I’ll just do this acting thing until I’ve got a career.’ And then one day I thought, ‘What am I doing? I appear to have a career, and it’s not in psychiatry,'” she reflected.

However, while her career flourished, the actress’s personal life was a bit more tumultuous. She tied the knot four times, though none of those marriages stood the test of time.

After her relatively private first marriage did not work out, at the height of her soap opera fame, the actress married singer-songwriter Keith Barbour. However, after six years together, their marriage ended.

She then said “I do” to writer and producer Michael Dubelko, but they also did not last. Her fourth marriage followed to writer, actor, and producer Steve Sohmer.

Despite her marriages not lasting, the actress never expressed regret over her romances. She shared, “A friend of mine says, ‘You’ve got a bad picker,’ and I think that’s not entirely untrue. But when I look at the growth in my life, everything got me to where I am.”

“I was going to school in Florida and a marriage got me to California, so that opened a few thousand doors! I’ve taken lessons [from them] and still have [some] great friendships,” the actress continued. However, by 2019, she had made it clear that she had no interest in walking down the aisle again.

Surrogacy Brought Her Dream of Motherhood to Life

This well-known actress is none other than Deidre Hall, who, over two decades and two marriages, struggled to conceive a child despite her best efforts.

She underwent numerous rounds of artificial insemination, surgeries, and in-vitro fertilization. Each attempt left her physically and emotionally exhausted, but still, no baby arrived. Ultimately, after battling infertility for so long, she and her fourth husband turned to surrogacy, a decision that changed her life.

As someone who had been through the emotional toll of infertility at 44, Deidre was drawn to surrogacy, revealing, “There is enormous power in women working together… and it came as no surprise to me that surrogacy would’ve worked for me.”

She and Steve found a surrogate, a young mother named Robin, through a surrogacy center in Beverly Hills. However, that was just the beginning of the emotional process.

Deidre recalled the moment she met Robin, “It took about a year to find Robin, and as everything else in this process that has happened, when I saw her, I knew it. I knew she was my surrogate. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.”

Robin gave birth to their first son, David Atticus, on August 23, 1992, and three years later, on January 19, 1995, she delivered their second son, Tully Chapin. The joy Deidre felt when her sons were born was indescribable. “In the moment that baby is placed in your arms, it doesn’t matter how they got there,” Deidre reflected.

“When David was born, the doctor cut the cord and handed him to me, and I remember saying, ‘If anybody ever tries to hurt you, I will kill them’ … at a rational moment,” the actress joked.

Deidre’s surrogacy journey was so significant that she and Steve decided to share their story with the world. In 1995, Steve wrote the made-for-TV movie “Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story,” in which Deidre played herself, reenacting her own surrogacy experience.

For Deidre, it was important to set the record straight and to show how positive and successful surrogacy could be when done properly. She felt particularly compelled to dispel the negative perceptions that lingered after the notorious Baby M custody case, which had cast a shadow over surrogacy in America.

“I thought: I believe in this so much. I’m so grateful to Robin for the gift she gave us. And I just wanted the world to know what it was. I had really wanted people to understand that Mary Beth Whitehead [of Baby M] was not the story, that wasn’t how it worked, and that women are extraordinary and they can do things together,” Deidre said.

The bond between Deidre and her surrogate, Robin, remained strong over the years. “We’re still close,” the actress shared. She maintained a warm relationship with Robin and her children, who had been quite young when they first met.

Deidre fondly recalled how Robin’s children had been told that their mother was “helping [a] lady with a broken tummy” and how they all came to visit her home to make sure the baby had a bedroom. “It was a terribly sweet relationship,” she remarked.

Now all grown up, despite her success, Deidre’s sons have lived mostly out of the public eye. The “Days of Our Lives” star shared in 2019, “Tully took a little break and he’s going back to college, and David’s been going to college in Paris. He graduates in May.” According to his Instagram bio, David went on to work in real estate.

In 2021, the actress shared a photo dump on social media, including a sweet snap of her and David, and one social media user commented, “He is so handsome.”

Another person typed, “That’s a proud and loving Mom smile. Very beautiful.” A third added, “Love you always Deirdre and your son very handsome beautiful like mom [sic].”

Deidre is now well into her 70s, and over the years she has reflected on her life and shared, “I’m so sublimely happy. My kids and my family are in good shape, I’m healthy. I do a job that I love. I have people and a home that I adore, a garden that I like growing. It doesn’t get any better, and I’m beyond grateful.”

Deidre Hall’s journey to motherhood was not an easy one, but through surrogacy, she finally achieved her dream. Today, as a proud mother of two sons, the actress reflects on her life with gratitude, proving that love and fulfillment can take many forms, even beyond the traditional paths.