Tully From ‘Big Brother’ Gets Candid About Her ‘Tough’ Fertility Journey
Tully Smyth’s life has changed dramatically in the past year. Not only did she return to reality TV alongside ex Anthony Drew on Big Brother, but she also made some big decisions about her love life and her future family.
We were all delighted when Tully, after being single for eight years, debuted her serious relationship with Daniel Parisi in 2021. A part of us always hoped she’d get back together with Drew, but it was clear on their return to Big Brother that their chapter was closed.
Fast forward to 2023, and Tully has found herself single once again, after her relationship wasn’t able to survive long distance, an all too familiar story. She’s made no secret of the fact that she wants children, and at 35 years old, she’s in the process of freezing her eggs to give herself the best chance of conceiving in the future.
In an interview with Punkee, the reality TV star opens up about why she’s decided to share her journey with fans and discusses the possibility of starting a family by herself.
Tully Smyth reveals her biggest regret, which reality TV shows she wants to be on next, and teases a top-secret project:
Note: The below interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
On the reason she decided to freeze her eggs:
“I’ve recently frozen my eggs after thinking about it for probably three or four years. I finally got the courage and bit the bullet and went through a round of egg freezing with Monash IVF, which was something that was really important to me and I was really keen to do it. But you know, I was scared and anxious. It just felt like this really, really big scary obstacle that I was trying to avoid.”
“But now as people get into their mid-30s, and they’re trying to have a baby and trying to start a family, it’s actually so much harder than you think it is. And I’ve seen so many of my own girlfriends go through that struggle. I was holding out and hoping that it would all work out for me, and I was single for eight years. When I met my partner I thought, ‘Oh, everything’s great, this is all going to work out.’ And then my partner moved overseas and we’ve since broken up.”
“So really, freezing eggs is kind of the best thing I can do to give myself the best possible chance of having the family that I so badly want. No guarantees, but it’s the most control that I’ve got right now.”
On her choice to share her fertility journey online:
“When I started talking about it, I had a couple of girlfriends that came up to me and said, ‘I actually did it a few years ago.’ And I couldn’t believe that I had no idea, and it makes me sad that we’re not talking about it. There is still this shame and guilt surrounding egg freezing. I want to try and help eradicate that because I know what it was like to go through it. I want to try and change that and make a difference.”
On the physical process of egg retrieval:
“I think that’s the part that most people are scared about. You have to jab yourself in the tummy every day, twice a day for about 13 to 14 days. But you know what after the first one, you’re like, oh, is that all? It does get a bit trickier when you’re having to do two injections, with the morning injection, the needle is a bit thicker, the juice is a bit bigger, and that one’s a little bit more uncomfortable. But honestly, it’s nowhere near as overwhelming and scary as I think everyone expects it to be.”
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On her biggest fertility regret:
“I knew that at 35 it’s kind of like the last age where you can go ahead with egg freezing and feel confident about your results. You can definitely do it after 35, but they say the earlier the better. My only regret is that I wish I’d frozen my eggs sooner.”
“We’re not taught anything about fertility in high school. We’re not taught about endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, or postnatal depression. We’re also not taught about how it can actually be a struggle to get pregnant, it’s not as easy as we think. All we’re taught in high school is how not to get pregnant. Freezing your eggs can seem like a big scary process, and people think they have all the time in the world, but we really don’t. And I think that more people need to be aware of that.”
On the possibility of the fertility journey being unsuccessful:
“I struggle with the fact that there’s so much unknown, there’s still so much that they can’t guarantee, and that’s a really tough pill to swallow. Someone may have a really great result and freeze 20 eggs, and they think oh, that’s me home sailing, but there’s no guarantee that those 20 eggs are gonna result in a baby. For example, they have to go through genetic testing, and some of them might not pass that. Some of them might not pass the thawing process. So you could have 20 eggs, and unfortunately still not be able to make a baby out of them.”
“On the other hand, someone may only get three eggs on ice, and then one of them is the miracle egg. They say you only need one egg to make a baby and that’s true. But unfortunately, we just don’t know how many of those frozen eggs are going to be viable.”
On having a baby by herself:
“It’s something that I’ve considered over the years, especially because I was single for so long and all of my closest friends are either mums already, or they’re pregnant, or they’re trying to get pregnant, and it’s something that I really, really want. I would definitely consider doing it alone, but I also know how hard it is to bring up a baby. It’s hard enough being able to share the load with two people, let alone doing it on your own, but I want a family badly enough that it’s definitely something that I’m open to considering in the future. I have to keep reassessing and seeing how I’m feeling and how my love life’s going. But it’s definitely something that I would consider.”
On how many kids she wants:
“Look, I wanted five, and then every year I get older and I’m still without a baby. I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe four? Okay, three would be great’. A psychic told me that I’m definitely going to have a son, so I was kind of disappointed. I was like, ‘Wait, what, one son? Where are the rest of them, I want more!’. So ideally, the more the merrier, for me. I would love four kids, but at this point with things looking the way they’re looking, I would be blessed to have just one.”
On her next exciting projects:
“I have a few little things in the works. It’s been a really tough year for a couple of different reasons, but the Too Much Tully podcast is coming back. That has been on hiatus for way too long. I feel so bad! I keep promising it’s coming back and then my life will blow up and I have to push it back. I have some really exciting plans for that including a rebrand, which I’m excited about. I feel like myself and the pod have really grown and evolved from when I first launched it. And I think that the listeners have grown along with me.”
“I’m also… maybe writing a book! Which is something that has been in the pipeline for a couple of years now. It’s a tricky one because I wonder who really cares what I have to say. But, you know, it seems to be something people want to hear from me. I guess I have lived a pretty colourful, interesting life. But if the lessons I’ve learned along the way can help anybody else then as always, I’m happy to share and happy to help. So that’s my next project. I’m actually off to Bali for a health retreat soon, doing a bit of Eat, Pray, Love, and I plan to start writing it over there.”
On a return to reality TV:
“Oh my god, I’d love to return, are you kidding? I’ve never made it a secret that I would love to do reality TV again. The show that I want to go on the most is I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. I have been dying to do that show for probably five or six years. There’s been little chats happening about that, and then the line goes dead. But I love that show, I love what it’s about. I think it’s a really beautiful, wholesome show where we get to see, you know, these celebrities on a really human level that I really enjoy.”
“There’s so much empathy and there’s a real sense of family and they’re all raising money for a charity of their choice. I would love the opportunity to raise money for Dementia Australia for obvious reasons (Tully’s mum, Kay Smyth, passed from early onset dementia in 2019), that has been on my bucket list for so long. I don’t know what I have to do. I thought maybe going back on Big Brother might put me back in the ranks! That would be an absolute dream.”
(Note: Network 10, please put Tully on! And why not chuck in Tim Dormer or Drew while you’re at it?)
On becoming the next Bachelorette:
“I’ve said in the past that I’d love to do The Bachelorette. I don’t think they’re gonna come knocking, I think they think I’m too much of a liability, that I wouldn’t play along and I wouldn’t listen to producers. Which is probably fair, I’m very outspoken. I’m not shying away from sharing my honest thoughts and opinions. But I’ve never heard from The Bachelor people or The Bachelorette people, they’ve never contacted me or my manager, so I don’t think they’re interested.”
On rumours she was going to be on a celebrity version of Married at First Sight:
“Again, have never heard a peep about MAFS. That show, I love watching it as a viewer. I do think it’s high risk, high reward. If it works out and you fall in love like Martha and Michael or Tahnee and Ollie, then it’s all worth it. But also, the risks are high as well. We’ve seen a lot of people come out and struggle with getting back into real life. So I don’t think MAFS is for me. And I hope that they continue to take better care of their contestants.”
On teaming up with Tim Dormer for The Amazing Race:
“I would be totally down to do The Amazing Race celebrity edition. Can you imagine Tim and I together again, Tully and Tim. Look it would make for great television, wouldn’t it? He would drive me insane, I would drive him insane. We’d probably try and kill each other. But yeah, I mean, if Tim’s down and they’re keen, why not? I’m a sucker for punishment, it seems. Sign me up.”
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Image credits: Channel 9, Channel 7, Big Brother, Instagram/@tee_smyth