Jordana Brewster Says Moms ‘Reached Out’ to Her After She Opened Up About IVF and Surrogacy (Exclusive)

Jordana Brewster is paying it forward.

Chatting with PEOPLE at the This Is About Humanity 6th Anniversary Soirée held at Henry Winkler and his wife Stacey’s Los Angeles home on Saturday, Aug. 24, the Fast & Furious actress, 44, reflected on the impact she has had on other women.

Brewster says that after she opened up about her surrogacy journey publicly, including with Yahoo Parenting in 2015, she was overwhelmed by the positive reaction.

“I had moms reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, can you walk me through this?’ Or, ‘Can you help me with this?’ ” she says of the response she got from other women about the often-private topic.

“And I think life is all about paying it forward. And so if I can help someone because of the struggles I went through, I’m more than happy to do that,” Brewster adds.

Brewster shares her two sons — Julian, 10, and Rowan, 8 — with ex-husband Andrew Form. They welcomed both boys via a surrogate.

“I didn’t really have a choice about being open, since it was obvious I wasn’t pregnant. And for me it wasn’t a choice, I needed to use a surrogate,” the Fast X star told Yahoo Parenting in 2015. “But I didn’t feel judged, it’s more like I felt awkward.”

She explained that people — including a teacher at a parenting class — would often ᴀssume that everyone who is a mother gave birth to their babies. “I couldn’t be like, ‘Well, actually…’ ” Brewster said.

“So sometimes I feel a little left out when other moms talk about what their birth experience was like, and I feel the loss of not having carried or having been able to carry [a baby],” the actress continued at the time. “But luckily I keep my circle tight and close, so I never feel judged.”

The Lethal Weapon alum acknowledged that in many ways, being open about surrogacy is a privilege. “There are so many women who are young and have to go through IVF and feel like they can’t talk about it, and that’s really unfortunate,” she told Yahoo Parenting.

Brewster married her current husband, Mason Morfit, in 2022, and the couple is raising a blended family who also includes Morfit’s four kids.

The Dallas alum tells PEOPLE she’s sometimes surprised by how quickly her sons are growing up.

“I’m shocked by how much they grow within a year. My kid’s in flag football, and in the past he would talk back to the coach or start crying if something bad happened,” Brewster says, referring to Rowan. “But he’s 8 years old and he was in it, taking direction, and I was so proud. He scored two touchdowns yesterday and I was just like, ‘Yes!’ “

She adds that she jokingly refers to herself as “a total stage mom” while watching Rowan play the sport.