Greg Wise says that his wife Emma Thompson's IVF journey caused a rift in their marriage as they tried desperately to have a second child and it was only 'saved' by therapy

Greg Wise has revealed how therapy saved his marriage to his wife Emma Thompson after they were torn apart by failed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) attempts.The couple had welcomed their daughter Gaia, now 26, when Emma was 40 via IVF and in her second year of life, they tried again through the same method.However, this time the IVF was unsuccessful and Greg has now recalled how repeated failed cycles caused a painful rift in their relationship.He explained how it left them unable to communicate and feeling isolated from each other during their struggle to have a second child.Greg opened up about the experience on Elizabeth Day's How To Fail podcast, where he credited therapy for bringing them together and saving their relationship. The actor said: 'We had been together for three or four years. Decided we wanted to start a family and found out that we couldn't. Took the tests and went to New York to do the IVF and saw a four celled large collection there. Three were put back in. Greg Wise has revealed how therapy saved his marriage to his wife Emma Thompson after they were torn apart by failed IVF attempts that left them unable to conceive'I think almost exactly on her 40th birthday we found out she was pregnant and this four-celled thing became our daughter'In Gaia's second year of life we tried again and failed and then tried again and then failed. It's brutal anyway, IVF, and it brings so much baggage. It's the most authentic feeling of failure ever because this is why we're here, to procreate and you're not a man or woman if you can't. We're brought up with the fables that all boys grow up to be father's an all girls grow up to be mothers.'Reflecting on how they recovered from the grief of secondary infertility, he said: 'It took us a very long time for us to dig ourselves out of that hole and we didn't get help with it and at the same time we had our gorgeous daughter. 'The pull of that, the exquisite love we felt for her and jarring pain that we wouldn't be able to provide her with a sibling and for us to have another child.'Elizabeth asked if they were able to support each other, saying 'Were you able to find each other in that? Were you able to talk to each other about But Greg admitted: 'No. No. No, no, we were we were dislocated.'Greg was asked about how it felt being the man in the scenario, because the process focuses on the needs of the woman who is being treated. He said: 'It's more than that in the process, in the process it's all about the woman and filling them with the various hormones to stimulate things and the harvesting. As you know it's a brutal process. The couple had welcomed their daughter Gaia, now 26, when Emma was 40 via IVF and in her second year of life, they tried again through the same method (Greg and Emma pictured with Gaia in September 2025)'Where I was in myself at the time, the saviour figure, I couldn't save Em. There was nothing I could do. Dispassionately it wasn't my gig. She was undertaking all of this. 'All I could was to support and to try and soothe her rather than myself. So, you get into this terrible spiral, this cycle. 'Luckily, we found our way through. But I know I know couples who were unable to remain couples after failed IVF.''IVF is about creating a human, the process is utterly dehumanising. Because you have an incompetent whatever, or geriatric. Em was 40 with dried up eggs or whatever, with the weight of injection that completely transforms ones system.'The madness of all that while trying to stay resolutely calm and available.'Greg credited their daughter Gaia for pulling them through the dark period. 'Here we are. Luckily we are a family, we do have a child that we love,' he said.'We also bring the idea what a family should look like by the family that we came from. So, we both came from families of two siblings.'That's a family. That's what it looks like. Mum, dad, two kids. We've only got one. We're not a family. We've failed. It takes a while. It takes a while. And of course with a with a little person, your heart is so open.''And I went into therapy. Therapy saved my life and our marriage. Without a doubt. I would not be sitting here without therapy,' he added.