Katey Sagal Talks Motherhood at 52
Katey Sagal has a bit of a unique family, blended and expanded through surrogacy. Now, she is reflecting on one of the biggest decisions of her life: becoming a mother again at 52. The Married… with Children star recently sat down with Ted Danson on his podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, and recalled the journey to become a parent again more than a decade after welcoming her two older children.
Katey Sagal and Kurt Sutter had an honest conversation ahead of their wedding
Katey Sagal is now 72, but 25 years ago, she met a man at a 12-step recovery program who would change the course of her life in more ways than one. The pair first linked up in 2001, a year after Sagal finalized a divorce. They married in 2004. Kurt Sutter, six years her junior, didn’t have children and had initially insisted that he wasn’t interested in becoming a biological father.
Sagal, already in her 40s, told Sutter that he didn’t have much time to change his mind, as she had about “five minutes left” to consider having another child. Sutter did end up changing his mind several years later. Around that same time, Sagal learned she was no longer able to carry children naturally, so the couple made the decision to look at alternative options, including adoption.
In her memoir, Grace Notes, Sagal wrote that she could no longer carry a child due to previous complications, and the couple immediately switched gears, putting both surrogacy and adoption on the table. They eventually opted for surrogacy, after the road to adoption proved rife with roadblocks.
She opened up about choosing surrogacy
The couple went through an agency to select a surrogate and worked to build a relationship with the woman carrying their child. They attended her doctor appointments and checked in on her prenatal care. Still, even the road to surrogacy was bumpy. Sagal has said the IVF process was complicated, noting their chances were slim with less-than-ideal embryos. Despite that, they pushed forward, hoping that if it were meant to be, it would work out. It worked out.
Their daughter, Esmé Louise Sutter, was born via surrogate on January 10, 2007. Sagal was 52. While they intended to build a close relationship with their surrogate, that relationship grew more distant following the birth. Sagal has said she and Sutter ultimately decided it was best for their family to cut ties with the surrogate after Esmé was born. The duo has never gone into detail on that decision or how it has impacted their family moving forward.
Does Katey Sagal have other children?
While Katey Sagal and Kurt Sutter welcomed their only child together in 2007, Sagal was not a first-time mom. She has two children from her previous marriage to drummer Jack Cameron White. Their daughter, Sarah, was born in 1995, and their son, Jackson, was born the following year. Both of Sagal’s older children have found work in the entertainment field. Sarah is a musician, while Jackson is an actor known for his work in “Tell Me Lies.”
Sagal and White were married for seven years. They tied the knot in 1993 and finalized their split in 2000, citing irreconcilable differences. According to USA Today, Jack Cameron White died in 2024 at the age of 70. His son paid tribute to him on Instagram following his death, noting he would remember him, “6 foot 4 with a denim shirt and a Starbucks muffin.”
