Alyssa Milano reveals she had two abortions
Alyssa Milano now has a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. Credit: Getty Images/Rich Fury
Actress and mother of two Alyssa Milano has revealed that she underwent two abortions in 1993, at age 20.
Describing being in love and starting a film career following her hit sitcom "Who's the Boss?," Milano, 46, recalled on her "Sorry Not Sorry" podcast on Monday that she was taking Accutane, "an acne medicine that is so likely to cause birth defects … that the FDA now requires doctors, pharmacies and women to sign up to a registry before prescribing, dispensing or receiving it. I knew this, so using birth control was a doubly important decision for me" during her first serious adult romance. "And I still got pregnant."
Citing a variety of reasons why she "was not equipped to be a mother," Milano said her choice of an abortion "was absolutely the right choice for me. It was not an easy choice. It was not something I wanted, but it was something that I needed, like most health care is."
Despite birth control pills being "99 percent effective at preventing pregnancies," she went on, Milano found herself pregnant again months later. "I had done what I knew to do to prevent pregnancy and was still pregnant. So once again I made the right decision to end that pregnancy."
She also reflected on what her life might have been like without terminating those pregnancies. "I would not have my children … who have a mother who was so very, very ready for them. I would not have my career. … I would never have met my amazing husband, David [Bugliari], whose steadfast and immeasurable love for me sustains me through these terrifying times."
Milano and talent agent Bugliari have a son Milo, who turns 8 on Aug. 31, and a daughter Elizabella, who turns 5 next month.
