Internet Icon, Supermodel Cindy Margolis Has Twins Via Surrogate

ST. PAUL, Minn., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet Icon and supermodel Cindy Margolis and her husband, Guy Starkman, a well-known L.A. restaurateur, became parents for a second time this week on July 17 with the help of a surrogate. "Becoming a mother has been the greatest achievement and most humbling experience that I've ever known. It has been a time of such anticipation, optimism and dreaming ... and fear, insecurity and self-doubt, but I've never been happier!" says Cindy Margolis, Internet star, supermodel, actress, author and mother.

Sierra and Sabrina Starkman were born at St. John's Hospital in Minnesota. They arrived five weeks early, but they are both doing great in the hospital's Special Care Unit. Margolis' surrogate, Shannon, lives in Minnesota with her husband and two young children. Shannon encourages other healthy women to consider being a surrogate. "You have to want to do it for the right reasons. You have to want to help a couple bring a child into this world," says Shannon.

Margolis and Starkman, President of Jerry's Famous Deli and Guy's Bar in Los Angeles, experience "unexplained infertility." In their fifth attempt at in-vitro fertilization (IVF), they succeeded in becoming pregnant with their son, Nicholas, now three years old. When the couple's attempt at having a second child was unsuccessful, they decided surrogacy was the best option for them.

"Honestly, did we ever think our perfect family would be conceived by IVF and a surrogate mother? No, of course not, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is still perfect and a true blessing," said Margolis.

Cindy Margolis, the "most downloaded woman on the Internet," is now the spokesperson for Resolve, the national infertility association. Margolis is the "Face of Infertility 2005." Margolis is currently writing a book titled, "The Girlfriend's Guide to Having a Baby ... When the Old Fashioned Way Isn't Working" with famed author Vicki Iovine. Margolis is also shooting a fertility reality series to bring this important issue out of the dark and into the illumination of mainstream awareness. Margolis says, "I want everyone who wants children and cannot conceive naturally to know they have options. It is all worth the journey when you hold your precious child in your arms."