Isha Sesay talks about being a single mother through IVF and leaving CNN

Award-winning British-Sierra Leonean journalist Isha Sesay has shared her journey to becoming a single mother through in vitro fertilisation (IVF). She explained that years of focusing on her career, personal heartbreak, and her mother's long illness influenced this major life choice.

In 2022, PREMIUM TIMES reported that she openly shared the emotional and physical struggles of fertility treatment. She detailed her experiences with multiple IVF cycles, hormone injections, fibroid surgery, and the tough decision of choosing a sperm donor.

During a chat with Larry Madowo on African Voices, Ms Sesay said motherhood was always in her plans, but her successful journalism career took over. When asked about her choice to undergo IVF at 46, she admitted that her wish to have children never faded.

"You know, candidly, I had wanted to have a baby. It was always on the list of things that I was going to do. And then I got to CNN. And it just became about the work," she said.

She reflected on the moment that changed everything. Her mother’s serious stroke made her rethink what was truly important in life. "It was when my mom took ill, and mortality and the finality of life smacked you in the face that you think, ‘What is it all for?'" the media executive explained.

After years of waiting for the perfect time and realizing her biological clock was ticking, Ms Sesay decided to pursue motherhood on her own. "I was like, 'Give me that website, let me find a donor. Let me do this on my own.'"

The veteran broadcaster also spoke about the strong public reactions to her announcement. She was surprised by how invested many strangers became in her personal decision. "I’m amazed by the depth of feeling people have about this decision. People who don’t know me, people I’ve never met. It’s really polarising for some people and really difficult for some people that I would choose to have a baby on my own."

She dismissed claims that her choice was a rejection of men. "Some people take it as though I did it as an affront or a rejection of men. It’s not a rejection of anyone. It is an embrace of my own autonomy."

Ms Sesay also revealed that caring for her mother, Kadi Sesay, a well-known academic and politician from Sierra Leone, influenced her decision to leave CNN after 13 years. "People always ask me, 'Why did you leave CNN?' I left because my mom had a stroke, and I was in a position where, effectively, business decisions were being made that did not align with my responsibilities to care for her."

She made it clear that her departure was friendly, saying, "I decided to walk away. No hard feelings. I have tremendous love and respect for the decision-makers at the time."

Her mother suffered a severe stroke in December 2016 and was in a semi-conscious state for years before passing away in June 2025. Reflecting on her emotional journey, Ms Sesay shared that grieving has been a long process. "I lost her last year in June. I’m still navigating the loss of my mother. She had a catastrophic stroke on December 1, 2016, and basically was in what you’d call a semi-vegetative state until we lost her last year. Nine years later."

She added, "In some ways, she was not present. Not gone, but not present. Then she passed on, and now she’s not physically here. It’s a very strange experience because it’s been grieving for nine years."

Ms Sesay's journey to motherhood came after her marriage to CNN journalist Leif Coorlim ended and another relationship that raised concerns. Instead of waiting for a partner, she chose to have IVF with donor sperm. Her experience was not easy.

After her first IVF attempt failed, she said, "I cried for days," and two unsuccessful embryo transfers made her approach her third with low expectations. "If you’d told the 16-year-old me that at 46, I’d be divorced, single and having a baby on my own, by choice! I’d have shuddered and firmly said, 'No!'

"Back then, I had very definite ideas about the future course my personal life would take, and it didn’t look like this. I imagined something way more straightforward and, dare I say it, conventional."

She continued, "It was then, in the aftermath of our inevitable breakup, that it hit me. Not having a child would be the greatest regret of my life. And with my biological clock ticking down, if I was waiting for the right man to come along before I did it, well, I might find myself out of time."

"But with each passing day, I grew more fearful and anxious about my chances of being able to carry a child successfully. Those feelings only intensified when my doctor decided to halt my second attempt mid-cycle because my body was responding negatively to the medication."

With two failed attempts, she went into her third embryo transfer with low expectations. In the two weeks after the procedure, her mind raced, and she fought the urge to take an early pregnancy test. In 2024, she welcomed her daughter.

Isha Sesay is best known for her 13 years as an anchor and correspondent with CNN International. She reported on major global events and gained recognition for covering the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria. She later wrote about it in her book Beneath the Tamarind Tree (2019). Now, she is the CEO of Areya Media.