Congratulations are in order for Eboni K. Williams. The 40-year-old attorney, television personality and Real Housewives of New York alum is expecting her first baby this August. She shared the news, along with a set of beautiful baby bump shots with PEOPLE this week.
In a June 5 interview with the magazine, Williams admitted she wasn’t always sure she wanted to be a mother, and when she decided to freeze her eggs, she didn’t have a firm plan on what she would do.
“That was not my dream or fantasy. I had no real expectation around it,” she said.
But she did some serious soul-searching during the pandemic, and says she realized that even without a partner, she had more than enough love and resources to share with a child. So she made the decision to begin the process of IVF with the help of her frozen eggs and a sperm donor.
“I felt compelled to share this forward to the next generation — not just through mentorship, but through creating my own progeny and cementing my own legacy in this very unique way that only motherhood could offer,” she said.
Williams is getting lots of well wishes online from those celebrating her decision to create a family on her own terms.
“I love this for her! she is becoming a mother on her own terms and didn’t settle for Less just to have a family. she gets to become a parent on her own terms and drama FREE, 🙌🏾❤️” read one comment on TikTok.
“She’s going to be the best mother, she’s lived life and has a story to tell!!” wrote a user on X.
But there’s also a contingent who believes her decision to go at motherhood alone is a bad one.
“It’s beyond saddening at how many women are co-signing this decision. It’s literally perpetuating and excusing bad dismissive behavior. When are when going to call each other out about their actions!?” commented aTikTok user.
“Ladies, don’t let an unhealed woman encourage you to be the “typical” stereotype. Being a single mother by choice isn’t an accomplishment. It’s difficult, expensive and can be mentally exhausting. Most women don’t have the means to do this. A child needs BOTH parents. BOTH incomes,” wrote someone on X.
Another user on X wrote: “Black women who think like Eboni K Williams live in a constant delusional state, and they have no real friends…. They hate Black women like me who tells them the truth and hold them accountable for their BS…It’s sad and funny at the same time…. She could have been happily married and experiencing the best pregnancy ever with a bus driver who loves her immensely — but, she’d rather have a fatherless child by a strange unknown sperm donor.”
Williams, who acknowledges how lucky she has been in this process, nicknamed her daughter “one-of-one.”
“I did one egg retrieval at 34 years old, not really having a clear intention on if I would use those eggs or when I would use the eggs. And six years later, that one egg retrieval led to one genetically normal embryo which led to one successful embryo transfer and — one pregnancy later — I’ll soon have, God willing, one beautifully healthy baby girl. So it really does feel like fate,” she said.
