Which Celebrity Is Considering Freezing Her Eggs?

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It's no secret that getting pregnant can get trickier once you hit 35, which is why a growing number of younger women, uncertain about when they might become a mom, are deciding to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs

Last year, EXTRA host Maria Menounos went public with her plan to undergo egg retrieval. And now the latest celeb who appears to be joining the ranks of these long-range thinking ladies? Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, who just turned 34 in February. "She has been asking a few women she knows about freezing her eggs," a source tells Us magazine.

That Hewitt could be considering this path makes sense, since the actress hasn't exactly been quiet about her quest to become a mom. "I'm obsessed with babies," Hewitt told Us back in 2010. "I would love to have them one day."

According to Los Angeles-based fertility clinic, USC Fertility, there are a number of underlying reasons why women turn to egg freezing as a type of "insurance policy" for eventually having children. Some of the most common of these reasons include:

• The desire to delay pregnancy and raising children due to career demands. This was the case for Menounos, who cited her incredibly hectic work schedule as the reason why she decided to freeze her eggs at age 33.
• A diagnosis of cancer that requires the use of chemotherapy drugs known to harm fertility (egg retrieval takes place before cancer treatments begin). Men diagnosed with cancer are also able to have their sperm frozen as way to preserve their fertility.
• Moral and/or religious objections to storing frozen embryos.
• A family history of early menopause. "Some forms of early menopause are genetically-linked. Egg freezing offers a chance to preserve eggs before they are all depleted," the clinic writes in its patient materials.

As for Hewitt's thinking about why egg freezing may be a good idea? The actress has been dating her Client List costar Brian Hallisay since spring 2012, but she seems to be playing it safe by keeping all her options open. You know... just in case. "If it doesn't work out with Brian, she can still be a mom one day," Us quotes its source as saying.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that both work out!