How to Avoid 'Desperate Housewives' Surrogacy Love Triangle
May 22, 2006 — -- Jealousy, paranoia and infidelity strike the set of "Desperate Housewives" when Gaby and Carlos Solis decide to turn their live-in cleaning lady into a live-in surrogate to carry their child.
In the season's finale, Gaby, played by Eva Longoria, scatters baby monitors under all the beds after finding her live-in surrogate's ripped undergarment. She then leaves her husband and surrogate alone in the house so she can spy on them, only to hear her husband comment on how "amazing" the surrogate's moo shu pork is: "I wish Gaby could cook like this."
We see Xiao-Mei, the surrogate, get the royal treatment from Carlos, who lets her sleep in the couple's king-size bed because of her morning sickness, leaving Gaby to sleep in a twin-size bed with her husband.
Soon we find out that Carlos, played by Ricardo Antonio Chavira, is cheating on his wife with the surrogate, played by Gwendoline Yeo. Gaby kicks her husband out of the house and keeps the surrogate living with her: "I'm the boss of you," she tells her. "I'll make these next nine months a living hell." The show depicts surrogacy as a complex dynamic that can strain a marriage.
This type of turmoil doesn't just play out on television -- it can happen in real life, too. But psychologists say it can also be avoided if couples are prepared for the potential strains.
Carole Jackson, 45, of Murrieta, Calif., has given birth to five children -- two of her own and three as a surrogate mother -- and says the story line on "Desperate Housewives" might make for good television but that it couldn't be further from her own experience.
For Jackson, helping women who are either infertile or physically unable to carry a fetus to term was one of the most incredible experiences of her life, she says.
"Usually, the surrogate is trying to pull the woman into the pregnancy and make them really feel like they're going through it," says Jackson.
The sexual tension between the surrogate and the intended father is something Jackson hasn't experienced.
"The intended father just becomes generic. He usually feels uncomfortable with the surrogate and gets friendly with the surrogate's husband, which is nice, because sometimes the surrogate's husband can feel left out. So they'll go golfing together and do male bonding activities," says Jackson, who still stays in contact with the couple for whom she carried twins.
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