From the Daily Telegraph 10 November, 2014.
Australian woman engaged to the sperm donor father of her child
A London-born Australian woman had her daughter with a sperm donor, and then arranged to meet him and fell in love!
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Aminah Hart and Scott Andersen with daughter Leila Photo: Stavros Sakellaris
A single Australian woman has had a child using in-vitro fertilisation, only to later fall in love with the man who was her anonymous sperm donor.
In an unlikely "back to front love story" that has attracted the
interest of Hollywood filmmakers, Aminah Hart, now 45, only met her
husband-to-be after she had given birth to their daughter Leila.
Soon after, the pair fell in love and have now announced they are engaged.
Ms Hart, who was born in London, had selected Scott Andersen, an
Australian cattle farmer who lives on an island off the south coast,
from five possible sperm donors because she liked that he listed himself
as "happy and healthy".
They agreed to meet for the first time in Melbourne four days after Leila's first birthday.
"Neither of us expected it to happen," Mr
Andersen told The Telegraph. "I fell in love with Leila before I fell in
love with Aminah! It was all odd at the start. But Leila's beautiful.
We arranged to meet once a month. Aminah and I became quite friendly and
Leila started calling me daddy and coming to me all the time."
Ms Hart, an advertising professional, previously had two sons from a husband in London and a partner in Australia, but both babies died. She then learnt that she was the carrier of a rare genetic disorder which affects sons but not daughters.
At age 42, she decided to try one last time for a healthy baby using IVF.
And soon after Leila turned one, Ms Hart decided to try to track down the father.
Aminah Hart and partner Scott Andersen with their daughter Leila (Anthony Sines/ABC Australian Story)
Her own father was a West Indian film extra who met her Australian mother in London shortly after he returned from playing Omar Sharif's bodyguard in the film Lawrence of Arabia. The couple split when Ms Hart was young and she later tried to find him in England, but learnt that he died shortly before her arrival.
Determined to find her own daughter's father, she discovered his identity through a series of internet searches based on his name "Scott" as well as his profession as a cattle breeder and his role as a football coach.
Rather than contact him directly, however, she contacted him via the official IVF register. He was not legally required to meet Leila until she turned 18 but agreed, especially after he received a photo of his baby and saw how much she looked like both him and his four other children from two previous marriages.
"It was surreal," he said. "I was looking at this little girl – she looks like my other kids and like me. Blonde hair, blue eyes. It was overwhelming at the start. It wasn't really my daughter, but it was. At first, I didn't know Aminah so I didn't show much emotion."
Ms Hart added: "It was nervous and we were very tentative, but the rapport was really easy. The first thing for me was, phew he's a nice guy."
The pair agreed that Mr Andersen would become a part of Leila's life and they all began to meet once a month and then once a week, even though she lived in Melbourne and he lived 80 miles away, on Phillip Island, off the coast of the state of Victoria.
"My children all adored her," he said. "Leila is just a happy kid. She didn't want to go home and she cuddled the boys the whole time."
The pair both separated from their partners and a mutual attraction developed, though Mr Andersen was apprehensive because "I thought she was totally out of my league".
Eventually, trapped on the island due to a road closure, they went for a beer and she told him: "I think you should kiss me." It took another five minutes or so, but the pair finally embraced.
"So, romance was born," Ms Hart told Australian Story. "I just essentially say to people
"I don't have a lot of experience with farmers and so I was really intrigued and interested in his life."
The pair this week revealed they got engaged during a holiday in Thailand, after Mr Andersen went to buy milk for Leila in a village and returned with a ring for Ms Hart.
"I loved it because it was so Scott," she told ABC News.
"Maybe we're rushing it. Who knows? We've both got a track record of marriages that have ended. But it just feels right – I feel very certain of that. None of this has been at all conventional. We certainly are a very modern family."
Their extraordinary marriage has attracted attention from screenwriters, including from Working Title – the creators of Love Actually and Bridget Jones' Diary.
"I presumed that when I was elderly someone might knock on my door and say: I am your 30 year old son or daughter,'" he said.
"This just seems amazing."
Ms Hart, an advertising professional, previously had two sons from a husband in London and a partner in Australia, but both babies died. She then learnt that she was the carrier of a rare genetic disorder which affects sons but not daughters.
At age 42, she decided to try one last time for a healthy baby using IVF.
And soon after Leila turned one, Ms Hart decided to try to track down the father.
Aminah Hart and partner Scott Andersen with their daughter Leila (Anthony Sines/ABC Australian Story)
Her own father was a West Indian film extra who met her Australian mother in London shortly after he returned from playing Omar Sharif's bodyguard in the film Lawrence of Arabia. The couple split when Ms Hart was young and she later tried to find him in England, but learnt that he died shortly before her arrival.
Determined to find her own daughter's father, she discovered his identity through a series of internet searches based on his name "Scott" as well as his profession as a cattle breeder and his role as a football coach.
Rather than contact him directly, however, she contacted him via the official IVF register. He was not legally required to meet Leila until she turned 18 but agreed, especially after he received a photo of his baby and saw how much she looked like both him and his four other children from two previous marriages.
"It was surreal," he said. "I was looking at this little girl – she looks like my other kids and like me. Blonde hair, blue eyes. It was overwhelming at the start. It wasn't really my daughter, but it was. At first, I didn't know Aminah so I didn't show much emotion."
Ms Hart added: "It was nervous and we were very tentative, but the rapport was really easy. The first thing for me was, phew he's a nice guy."
The pair agreed that Mr Andersen would become a part of Leila's life and they all began to meet once a month and then once a week, even though she lived in Melbourne and he lived 80 miles away, on Phillip Island, off the coast of the state of Victoria.
"My children all adored her," he said. "Leila is just a happy kid. She didn't want to go home and she cuddled the boys the whole time."
The pair both separated from their partners and a mutual attraction developed, though Mr Andersen was apprehensive because "I thought she was totally out of my league".
Eventually, trapped on the island due to a road closure, they went for a beer and she told him: "I think you should kiss me." It took another five minutes or so, but the pair finally embraced.
"So, romance was born," Ms Hart told Australian Story. "I just essentially say to people
"I don't have a lot of experience with farmers and so I was really intrigued and interested in his life."
The pair this week revealed they got engaged during a holiday in Thailand, after Mr Andersen went to buy milk for Leila in a village and returned with a ring for Ms Hart.
"I loved it because it was so Scott," she told ABC News.
"Maybe we're rushing it. Who knows? We've both got a track record of marriages that have ended. But it just feels right – I feel very certain of that. None of this has been at all conventional. We certainly are a very modern family."
Their extraordinary marriage has attracted attention from screenwriters, including from Working Title – the creators of Love Actually and Bridget Jones' Diary.
"I presumed that when I was elderly someone might knock on my door and say: I am your 30 year old son or daughter,'" he said.
"This just seems amazing."
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