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Julia Roberts is the mother of 3-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus.

Posted October 13, 2008 by Audrey Turcot

What’s in Tinseltown’s water that’s causing this unprecedented wave of multiple births?

When Friends ended its 10-year run back in 2004, viewers were surprised when Chandler and Monica’s birth mother delivered not one but two babies! ("I’m sorry, we only ordered one," quipped a flabbergasted Monica.)

As we watched the Bings welcome little Erica and Jack to their world, little did we know that pretty soon many celebrities would be adding twins to their real-life families.

Sure, there have been a few notable multiple births in La-La land before: Cybill Shepherd had Molly and Zach in 1987 and Denzel and Pauletta Washington welcomed Olivia and Malcolm in 1991. But it was the arrival of Julia Roberts and Danny Moder’s Hazel and Phinnaeus that seemed to herald the 21st century boon of Hollywood twins.

The list of famous parents raising multiples includes lots of newsmaker stars -- P. Diddy, Patrick Dempsey, Lisa Marie Presley, Mia Hamm, Elvis Costello/Diana Krall, Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt and Kelsey Grammer among them.

Even single-dad Ricky Martin recently welcomed twin boys, born via surrogate, and both Rebecca Romijn-O’Connell and Jenna Jameson’s twosomes will be along shortly.

I don’t know about you but when I was growing up in the '70s, we had one set of twin girls in our school and it was a BIG deal.

In fact, from 1980 on, twin births in the United States have more than doubled. Of course, these days, with the amazing advances being made in fertility treatments, multiple births are becoming commonplace.

Why then do most famous moms deny that any such treatments played a part in their conceptions and subsequent multiple deliveries?

Well, before we jump on the "denial" bandwagon, it’s important to realize that they could truly have conceived naturally. Women over the age of 30 are more likely to get pregnant with twins than younger moms. And most of the star moms we’re talking about here were 30-plus when they got pregnant: Holly Hunter had her twins at age 47, Geena Davis at age 48.

Still, with more and more average Jill’s turning to Assisted Reproductive Technologies for help, doesn’t it make sense to assume that some stars would too?

"We did in vitro a week after we got married," Marcia Cross told People magazine in 2007 about her decision to pull out all the stops when trying to conceive. "I had already been through infertility treatments," the 45-year-old actress told Health magazine. "It’s very, very difficult to get pregnant in your 40s. It’s costly and tough on your body and your relationship." Luckily for the Desperate Housewives star, the treatments worked and she is now mom to twin toddlers Eden and Savannah.

Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon makes no bones about the difficulty she went through to get pregnant. It took five years, three miscarriages and two rounds of in vitro fertilization to conceive twin sons Jax and Jaid, now 2. "It’s hard in every single way: emotionally, physically," she told People earlier this year.

Jane Seymour also admits to undergoing both IVF and a difficult twin pregnancy. "I had had in vitro fertilization, and I was scanned and watched from day one [of my pregnancy]," the Dr. Quinn actress told WebMD at a live event. Pregnant with twin boys at age 44, Seymour admits she was "uncomfortable from the middle to the end." Later, eager to share the experience that brought forth her now-13-year-olds, Seymour penned the book Two at a Time.

And, though she didn’t have twins in real life, Monica Bing’s alter ego, Courtney Cox underwent IVF treatments while trying to get pregnant with daughter Coco. "In vitro is a wonderful thing that people can do in this day and age, and I’m lucky enough to be able to afford it," she told Good Housekeeping.

What do you think?  Should famous moms admit to their reproductive challenges or is it none of our business?