All About Michelle Buteau's Twins Hazel and Otis

Michelle Buteau welcomed twins Hazel and Otis in 2019

Michelle Buteau became a mom of two when she welcomed twins Hazel and Otis.

Although the comedian always knew she wanted to have children, her road to motherhood was far from easy. After getting married in 2010, Buteau and her husband, photographer Gijs van der Most, spent several years trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization before ultimately welcoming daughter Hazel and son Otis via surrogate in January 2019.

“Surrogacy is not something you go into IVF thinking, ‘This is what I’m going to be doing,’ ” the Babes star told PEOPLE in September 2020, adding that it’s “so beautiful that that is even a choice.”

She went on to describe the experience of meeting her babies for the first time as “bananas,” before expressing gratitude for her surrogate. “I’m just forever thankful," she said.

Related: Who Is Michelle Buteau's Husband? All About Gijs van der Most

Since becoming a mom of two, Buteau has become even busier. In 2020, she wrote a book, released her first comedy special on Netflix and landed the role of host on Netflix’s The Circle. More recently, she co-created a series based on her book, Survival of the Thickest, and starred in the rom-com, Babes.

In a May 2024 interview with 21Ninety, Buteau acknowledged the difficulty of balancing work and motherhood but explained that the fatigue has only made her happier. “For me, being tired is a privilege. Being a tired mom is a privilege,” she said.

On top of that, her kids help keep her motivated. “I want to show them that they can do whatever the f— they wanna do, as long as they work hard at it and they’re good people,” she told Vice in September 2020.

From their birth to their personalities, here’s everything to know about Michelle Buteau’s twins, Hazel and Otis.

She’s been open about her struggles with infertility

Speaking to PEOPLE, Buteau opened up about her struggles with infertility prior to becoming a mom.

“Just seeing your friends in general with kids or anything that you are yearning for. It's very hard to be around,” she shared. “Anybody that has had a miscarriage can understand.”

In a September 2019 essay she wrote for Glamour, she described the physical, emotional and financial toll of trying to conceive. “I felt like I was being punished for wanting a baby,” she shared.

“We did a lot of rounds of IVF. It was insane. I wanted so much to be pregnant that it took over me like a bridezilla for the uterus,” she wrote. “Four or five rounds of IVF and four miscarriages later, I was done. I was exhausted. I didn’t recognize my body.”

Eventually, with the help of her own mom, she and her husband decided to turn to surrogacy.

“I wanted so badly to be pregnant, but I hit a wall and couldn’t do it anymore,” she wrote. “I was glad that someone else could. So even though I felt sad, I also felt free.”

Hazel and Otis were born via surrogate in January 2019

While she was filming Always Be My Maybe, Buteau and her husband found out that their surrogate was pregnant, and in January 2019, their twins, Hazel and Otis, were born.

A few days later, the couple announced the news on Instagram with a photo of Buteau smiling while holding her babies.

“And just like that...we went from a family of two to four. Husband and I welcomed twins (a boy and a girl) via surrogate this past weekend,” she wrote in the caption. “After years of trying, countless needles #ivf and too many procedures to remember...it was well worth every tear. Baby Hazel and Otis are my rainbow at the end of the storm. Whatever you want in your life, I wish that for you.”

She was in the room during their birth

Due to surrogacy laws in New York, Hazel and Otis were born in Pennsylvania, but Buteau was able to be there for the whole thing.

“We wanted to make [our surrogate] feel as comfortable as possible. So she got to decide who was in the room with her,” the actress explained in an interview with The Bump. “I was so lucky that she chose me, but then I felt bad for my husband.”

In her essay for Glamour, Buteau opened up about the experience of being there while her twins were born. “When I held my babies for the first time, it was wild. It was insane, over the top. There’s not one word you can use to describe it. It was a marathon of emotions,” she wrote. “I was so tired, but had finally reached this goal. They are two souls who joined the world, and it will forever change us.”

She and her husband have different parenting styles

Buteau and van der Most have been married since 2010, but they didn’t realize how different their parenting styles were until after their twins were born.

“I think he’s too laid-back. He thinks I’m a helicopter parent,” the actress wrote in a December 2020 essay for The New York Times.

While Buteau was born in New Jersey to a Jamaican and French mother and a Haitian and Lebanese father, van der Most was born and raised in the Netherlands. According to her, these cultural differences have created very opposing parenting styles.

“In general, Dutch children are taught not to depend too much on adults; adults are taught to allow children to solve their own problems. It’s not a big deal to eat dinner and leave your eight-month-old sleeping in her stroller outside of a restaurant,” she explained.

She went on to describe how her own childhood differed. “We didn’t do roller coasters. I didn’t climb trees. And we didn’t swim very far at the beach.”

They were part of her first magazine cover

In 2020, Buteau appeared on the December cover of Parents magazine with Hazel and Otis. She shared the significance of the milestone on Instagram with a photo of the cover.

“This is my first magazine cover. It's a big deal,” she wrote in the caption. “For someone who's been told for years that I wouldn't be able to carry a child and that I’m too fat to be on camera — here I am on the cover of Parents magazine, holding my beautiful, healthy twins in a dope plus size onesie with a wedgie I'll never get to.”

For the story, Buteau spoke to fellow comedian and twin-mom, Wanda Sykes, about motherhood. “Parenting them can be overwhelming at times,” she admitted. “But then when they play with each other, I’m like, 'This is so beautiful,' because I’ve always wanted someone to play with. I’m an only child, and I think it’s a miracle that they will always have each other and have this bond.”

She went on to describe the difficulties of raising kids during a global pandemic. “I didn’t know if I could do it. Up until then I had always had help with the babies,” she shared. “Being alone with them, it felt like I was snorkeling for the first time and didn’t know how to breathe yet. I felt bad for being impatient.”

They have very different personalities

During that same interview with Parents, Buteau said that her twins have “such different personalities and therefore different vibes.”

Describing “their vibe” to Romper in May 2024, the actress said that they act like “little adults,” but in very different ways. “Hazel definitely has the energy of a 53-year-old Black woman that works at the DMV. And baby boy Otis has the energy of a tired husband holding his wife’s purse at Macy’s,” she joked.

No matter what, Buteau is raising them both to pursue their own happiness.

“I want to be the best me, so they know that Mom’s proud of what she does and they should do something they like,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in July 2023.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.