The model and actor Brigitte Nielsen has said she understands why people think she is too old to have a baby at 54, but highlighted that older fathers never receive the same criticism.

Her daughter Frida – her fifth child, and her first with 39-year-old husband Mattia Dessi was born in June. Nielsen, now 55, has also revealed she started having IVF treatment 14 years ago in the hope of becoming pregnant.

“Some women think, ‘Oh my God, I’m too old’,” she told American entertainment magazine People. “Well, yeah, I can understand people saying, ‘How dare she?’ But how many men have their first kids in their 60s and 70s and they never doubt it?

“Do I understand that (people) are a bit sceptical? Yes, I understand. I also totally respect the fact that not everybody likes it and agrees with it, but it is my life.”

Nielsen, who married Dessi in 2006, said: “It (is) his first baby and we are very much in love. We are very happy. We have a solid relationship. We are celebrating, or we have already – 14 years together.”



She said it was “such a long road” to becoming a mother again, and she wanted other women to know “everything is possible, but you have to be realistic” when trying to become pregnant later in life.

The Danish star, who was previously married to Sylvester Stallone, said she started freezing her eggs aged 40 and was given a 3 to 4% chance of conceiving with her own eggs. “I totally, totally beat the odds,” she said.

The star, who has appeared in films including Red Sonja, Rocky IV and Beverly Hills Cop II, said the process can be “lonely”, “because a lot of women don’t talk to each other about it”. She added: “We should hold hands because there’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a baby whether you’re 20, you’re 30, you’re 40 or, in my case, 50.” Nielsen is already a mother to four sons from previous marriages: Raoul Meyer Jr, 23; Douglas Meyer, 25; Killian Gastineau, 28; and Julian Winding, 34.

Nielsen announced her pregnancy in May by posting photos online of herself with her hands on her stomach, revealing her family is getting larger.