Michelle Yeoh opens up about being unable to have kids: 'Biggest sadness in my life'

Michelle Yeoh is opening up about her infertility struggles.

In an interview with BBC Radio's "Woman's Hour" on Monday, the Oscar-winning actress, 62, reflected on the fact that she "always wanted to have" kids but discovered she was unable to do so after marrying her first husband, Dickson Poon, in 1988.

When Yeoh and Poon could not conceive a child together, she sought fertility treatment.

"Every month, you feel like such a failure, and then you go, 'Why?'" she shared. "At some point, you stop blaming yourself. There are certain things in your body that doesn't function in a certain way. That's how it is. You just have to let go and move on. You come to a point where you have to stop blaming you."

But the "Wicked" star said it "took a long time" to reach a place of acceptance, and she sometimes still thinks about it. Not being able to have kids was the "main factor" that ended her first marriage, she also said, as it "was a marriage about having children." Yeoh and Poon divorced in 1992. She is now godmother to his daughter.

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Yeoh later married Jean Todt in 2023 after the couple had been engaged for 19 years. Todt has a son, Nicolas, from a previous marriage. In January, Yeoh revealed that Nicolas had welcomed a child, making her a first-time grandmother. "We are so truly blessed," she wrote on Instagram.

Speaking on "Woman's Hour," the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" actress said she still feels "very, very blessed" because she has a baby in her life despite never having kids of her own.

In a separate interview with The Times, Yeoh described not being able to have kids as "the biggest sadness in my life," but added, "the beauty is that I have six godchildren, many nephews and nieces. I don't live with regrets because I have always given it my 110%."

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Yeoh previously told Bustle she planned to walk away from acting to have kids, but returned when she discovered she couldn't do so, leading to her iconic roles in films like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

She later became the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" in 2023. "Ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime," Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. In May, President Biden awarded her a presidential medal of freedom.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michelle Yeoh opens up about being unable to have kids