Freedom on Her Terms: Tulisa's Egg Freezing Journey

The Wake-Up Call at 36

For Tulisa, egg freezing wasn’t something she suddenly decided to do overnight. It had been in the back of her mind for years — but like so many things, life kept moving, and the timing never quite felt right.

That changed when she turned 36.

"It was when I literally turned 36, and I just had this moment where I was like, where's the time gone?" she recalls. "I forgot about that — I really need to get that done."

Tulisa had first heard about egg freezing years earlier, long before she seriously considered it for herself. A friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and freezing eggs meant she might still have the option of having children after chemotherapy. 

Back then, it was something she understood in theory, but not as something she imagined for herself. 

Later, after a broken engagement and a lot of change in her personal life, she found herself thinking more seriously about her future and what she wanted it to look like.

Once she started looking into it properly, she realised something important: starting at 36 was still absolutely possible, but it meant the process might be a bit more involved than if she had done it sooner.

That was enough to make her commit- this time. 

How Tulisa Started the Process 

"When I first started the process, I was absolutely buzzing," Tulisa says with a laugh. "I was super excited for it. I was like, yes, finally I'm doing it."

She went into it with optimism and a hopeful plan in mind. Like many women who start researching egg freezing or the process, she thought about how many eggs she might get in her first round and expected everything to move fairly smoothly.

But what surprised her most wasn’t just the treatment itself, but how much there was to learn.

“I think just how complex it is surprised me,” she says. “There was so much information to take on board — so much that I didn’t understand and didn’t know about the process. Learning about hormones was interesting too- so yeah, there was a lot going on.”

It was a reminder of sorts- that egg freezing was a surgery, yes, but that wasn’t the spotlight of it all. The spotlight was on her, learning, adjusting, and getting used to a process that can feel very unfamiliar at first.

Tulia’s Experience vs The Reality of her Egg Freezing Cycles

Tulisa’s first retrieval didn’t give her the result she had hoped for.

She got four eggs- far fewer than she’d hoped for.

“On my first round, I only got four eggs, which was really low and not what I expected,” she says. “Emotionally, it’s been very up and down, and the hormones are a lot to experience.”

That first round was hard to take in, especially when she had hoped for a much higher number. But over time, something unexpected happened: her results improved.

"Like a fine wine, I just got better with age," she says. "Mine worked backwards — the next round I got a good few more, and then the last round I got even more."

Three rounds later, and with a fourth planned for when she gets back from travelling, Tulisa now feels differently now than she did at the start.

“I actually feel like I only became 100% happy after this third round,” she says. “Before that I was still like, yeah, I’ve got my eggs frozen, but oh, I really think I should have a kid when I’m 40. But after doing this third round and it being so successful — now I have this accumulation of eggs — I’m like, do you know what? I’m just gonna sit back and relax.”

Round After Round: What the Hormones Really Feel Like

Anyone thinking about egg freezing usually wants to know the practical side too: what does it actually feel like?

For Tulisa, the answer is honest and simple. It’s a mix of physical changes, emotional ups and downs, and a bit of fear the first time round.

On her second cycle, she gained weight, felt lethargic, and noticed physical changes she hadn't expected. The fear before that first self-injection was real. "I was definitely scared the first time I injected myself. I think I was afraid of the pain, but it was fine in the end."

That first step can feel daunting, but once she got going, it became more manageable. Even so, she wishes someone had told her one thing sooner.

“Do it younger,” she says. “You won’t have to do as many rounds.” she says simply. 

It’s not a warning so much as a reality she wishes more women heard earlier. Younger eggs generally mean a smoother process and often fewer rounds overall, which can also make the whole thing more cost-effective in the long run.

Despite everything, her conclusion is clear, as she says. "For me personally, it has all been worth it."

The Financial Case for Egg Freezing

One of the things Tulisa is most passionate about is reframing how women think about the cost of egg freezing — particularly in relation to IVF.

“I think freezing your eggs first is way more affordable than IVF,” she says. “I have had friends do multiple IVF rounds and absolutely been ripped out the bank.”

Her point is simple: egg freezing can be expensive upfront, especially if you need several rounds, but it can still be a more affordable route than going straight into IVF later without having frozen eggs.

“I might have spent a lot more freezing my eggs because I started at 36 and I’ve had to do more rounds,” she says, “but when it comes to the actual IVF process, it’s going to be a lot cheaper for me in the long run.”

She also wants women to know this isn’t only for people with lots of money.

“I don’t want people to think I’m speaking from a place of privilege,” she says. “I have recommended this process to friends who have regular 9-to-5s, and whether they’ve saved up or they’ve paid with a plan, it is something that is doable and has really changed their lives.”

Why Amilis Made the Difference

Tulisa first found Amilis on Instagram, and what stood out to her straight away was how much support they offered beyond just egg freezing.

“One of the great things about Amilis is they have such a wide range of knowledge,” she says. “Not just in the egg freezing world, but even when it came to gynaecological care.”

That wider support mattered to her, especially because she was navigating more than one fertility-related issue at once. She found Amilis’s guidance reassuring, practical, and easy to access.

“The specialists, the people they can put you in touch with — it’s amazing, very cost-effective, and your initial guidance with them is free,” she says.

For her, it felt less like being handed a medical pathway and more like having someone to talk to who actually understood the full picture.

“It’s just kind of like having a knowledgeable bestie that you can hit up and go, what’s happening here?” she says. “And they just have all the information at hand.”

She also appreciated that private fertility care didn’t have to mean locking herself into an expensive journey.

“When we use the term private healthcare, you think, oh no, that’s too pricey,” she says. “But something you can also do is get initial consultations or diagnostics or scans privately — that’s something Amilis can help you with on affordable plans — and then you can take that information and bring it back to the NHS.”

That kind of flexibility matters- especially when there are currently over 600,000 women on the NHS waiting list for gynaecological care. 

In that meanwhile, having a place to turn to matters enormously. And for women, Amilis is the avenue to understand their health better, rather than being on a waitlist.

Women's Health In the UK is Underfunded and Underexplained — And That Needs to Change

Tulisa has also had to learn about women’s health the hard way. She was diagnosed with endometriosis when she was 22, and since then, she’s become very aware of how much information women are still expected to figure out for themselves.

It's given her a particular vantage point on why women's health remains so poorly understood and so underfunded.

"I think women's health has been generally underexplained because the health industry, the pharmaceutical industry, has essentially been run by men in power for a very long time," she says plainly. "It's changing, and more women are coming into power, but overall, it's an industry that for a very long time has been run by men. When it comes to things that are more leaning on what can be deemed as women's emotions — like the need to freeze eggs or suffering with endometriosis — it doesn't get enough attention."

The human cost of that neglect is something she's seen up close. A close friend's endometriosis went unmanaged for so long that it spread throughout her entire body and into her spine — something Tulisa herself, despite having the condition, didn't know was possible until it happened.

"Why are we not being given the information?" she asks. "Everywhere I look, I meet women with endo and they all kind of have the same stories of these struggles."

For Tulisa, that’s part of why conversations like this and options like Amilis matter so much. They give women information and a path to diagnosis that too many of us never get in time.

What Egg Freezing Really Gave Tulisa

Ask Tulisa what egg freezing has really given her, and the answer isn't about eggs or embryos or statistics. It's about freedom.

"I got to a point where I started to panic," she admits. "I didn't feel anywhere near ready for a child but I was like — am I going to have to make a decision? Am I going to have to settle for something mediocre? Am I going to have to force myself into something I'm not sure of? Or just not do it at all and hope for the best?"

Freezing her eggs gave her another option. And with that came a sense of calm she hadn’t felt before.

“I am not tied down by fear or expectations or pressure,” she says. “And that is such a liberating feeling to have as a woman.”

Now, she’s travelling, dating, and living without the same background pressure hanging over her future.

“I feel empowered. I feel free. I feel like myself again. I feel like I can literally just live my best life.”

Tulisa's Message to Every Woman Thinking About Egg Freezing

Tulisa’s advice is refreshingly simple: start by learning.

“Just look into the process — it’s free,” she says. “And there are many things you could do with that knowledge and many decisions you can make, but start with the research. The information is free and available.”

She’s also clear that egg freezing is not a promise. It’s a possibility.

“Nothing in the egg freezing world is a guarantee — it’s an optimisation,” she says. “I want people to know there is that opportunity and possibility out there for them. It is something that is doable and has really changed their lives.”

Her message is not to panic, but not to wait just because it feels easier to put it off.

And for any woman who's heard success stories and thought, "That won't be me?” Tulisa's answer is the same: you don't actually know that. Bodies are more versatile than we give them credit for. 

Everyone’s journey is different. Everyone’s body is different- but that journey is worth beginning.

“Part of the egg freezing process is not just to freeze your eggs, but to learn more about your own body and your own fertility, and what you are capable of,” she says.

Your Safe Space for All Things Womens Health: Amilis

For Tulisa, what made Amilis different was feeling genuinely at home.

"Amilis just made me feel very at home and relaxed. Like this is a safe space, it's a woman's space — and it just made the journey all the more easier and positive."

That’s exactly the kind of support many women need when they start asking questions about their own reproductive health: not judgment, not pressure, just clear information and someone who can help them make sense of it all.

Tulisa found it in us, and we couldn’t be more honoured to be a part of her journey.

We’re now on a mission to make it possible for every woman in the UK.

We’re making reproductive healthcare affordable and accessible, one day at a time 🫶🏻

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