Spanish Actress Defends Her Decision to Have a Baby with Her Deceased Son's Sperm

A few years ago, Spanish actress Ana Obregón made headlines for a decision that sparked widespread debate — she chose to use her late son’s sperm to have a child through surrogacy.

Ana Obregón, who was devastated by the death of her son Aless Lequio from cancer in 2022, hoped to honor his "last wish." According to Ana, her son had wanted her to have a child after his passing. The actress, heartbroken but determined, pursued this path and, in 2023, welcomed a baby girl through surrogacy using Aless' sperm.

However, Ana later clarified the situation in an interview, revealing that the child, named Anita, was actually her granddaughter, not her daughter.

“This girl is not my daughter; she is my granddaughter,” Ana explained in an interview with ¡Hola! in April 2023. “She is Aless' daughter, and when she grows up, I will tell her that her dad was a hero, so she knows who he was and how proud she should be of him.”

In a more recent interview with Spanish TV, Ana shared how her life had changed since Anita's birth, describing the joy she feels as she cares for her granddaughter. Despite the grief of losing her son, she said, "My home is full of stuffed animals and toys," adding that Anita even has a ball pool where she enjoys playing with her. “She makes me dive in,” Ana laughed, showing the lighter side of her life with Anita.

But Ana, who is 70 years old, also admitted that as the child grows, some of the physical demands of childcare are becoming harder to bear. “Picking her up is getting more difficult,” she said, as the child’s increasing size and weight were starting to strain her back.

Ana also spoke emotionally about the shock of learning about her son’s cancer diagnosis. “We live our whole lives thinking we’re invincible, that nothing can happen to us,” she reflected. “Then, suddenly, at 25 years old, you’re told you have an aggressive cancer. It’s a huge wake-up call — it’s not what they told you when you were young.”

She continued to say that the pain of losing Aless made her even more protective of her granddaughter. "Now, I have many more fears, especially with Anita. My fears now are greater than when I had Aless,” she confessed.

The announcement of Anita's birth by surrogacy was met with surprise and controversy in Spain, where surrogacy is illegal. While adoption of foreign-born children is permitted, surrogacy itself is not. Anita was born in the United States via surrogate, and after her birth, Ana legally adopted her, which made her the child's legal guardian.

Reflecting on the emotional toll of losing Aless, Ana has been open about how his death affected her deeply. She said she felt as though she had “died for three years” after losing her son. “But then Anita’s arrival resurrected me,” Ana admitted, speaking of how the baby gave her a new sense of purpose and joy.

In an interview marking Anita's second birthday in March 2024, Ana shared how bittersweet her new life is. “I know I'll never feel the happiness I had when Aless was with me again,” she said. "That pain will never go away. You don’t ever truly get over the death of a child, and you don’t just accept it. You eventually come to terms with the fact that you’ll never be able to accept their departure.”

But Ana also acknowledged that despite the overwhelming grief, Anita has helped fill the emptiness left by Aless. "Anita now fills my days,” she said. “I was dead for three years from Aless' death until Anita was born. Life, once again, feels like a breath of fresh air.”