Sept. 21 (UPI) — Hasan Minhaj is going public about his and his wife’s fertility struggles following the birth of their son.
The 35-year-old writer, actor and comedian said on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon that he and his wife, Beena Patel, struggled to conceive prior to their baby boy.
“Now listen, I haven’t told anybody this, Jimmy,” Minhaj told host Jimmy Fallon. “This is news for a lot of people, but my wife and I, we were actually having fertility problems for years. And that was really tough on us, and it loaded the relationship with a lot of tension.”
“We’d be sitting there late at night having really tough conversations. You know, are we going to be able to have kids? Are we arrogant for thinking we deserve kids? And I was trying to, you know, be optimistic.”
Minhaj said he went to get checked out at a fertility clinic, where his doctor ended up being a person he grew up with “who failed out of the Caribbean med school twice.”
“I go, ‘Arjan, how are you licensed?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t know,'” Minhaj recalled, later describing his friend as “an off-brand doctor.”
Minhaj said he learned that too much blood in his testicles was lowering his sperm count. He underwent “a very dangerous surgery” — varicocele repair surgery — to remove enlarged veins in his scrotum.
“Six weeks later, we have hot monogamous action, me and Beena. She gets pregnant, and there you go,” Minhaj said.
Minhaj and Patel married in January 2015 and also have a 3-year-old daughter. The couple welcomed their son in March 2020.
“Even in these crazy times there are so many beautiful moments. Welcome to the world little guy. The Minhaj family grows, and according to Beena it’s done growing. But ya never know, shooters shoot,” Minhaj wrote on Instagram at the time.
Minhaj is known for his work on The Daily Show and Patriot Act. He currently plays Eric Normani on the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show.