AOC Goes Public With a Private Decision to Freeze Her Eggs

**Brigid Bergen** (0:10)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom filling in for Brian today.
Coming up later in the show, we'll check in on the gubernatorial race here in New York State. Long Island Republican Bruce Blakeman is taking on Governor Kathy Hochul and a new CNN poll from this week found he's only 10 points behind. President Trump plans to join Blakeman, who is also the Nassau County Executive on Long Island today, to tout lower crime stats. Even though the president is broadly unpopular in New York State, he's more well-liked on in Long Island. So we'll talk about how all of this is playing out with my colleague, Jimmy Vielkind, and Newsday reporter Bajar Ostadhan. Plus, by now, you've probably heard of doulas, which most people think of as a person who helps shepherd a birth. But have you heard of death doulas? We'll speak to a death doula. We'll explain what they do to help clients prepare for the end of life. Bring your questions. That'll be a little after 11
We'll wrap today's show with some late summer talk of staycations. If you have sticker shock at the gas and airfare prices, and you're not going anywhere this summer, but maybe you have a little time, we're going to share some ideas for how to staycation here in our area. And we want your staycation tips too, so be ready to call in for that. But first, there's a stream of content on Instagram that has been racking up views since last weekend.
Here's Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram talking about a choice women often make in private that she's decided to make very public.

**Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez** (1:48)
I have made the decision to start freezing my eggs. And I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time. And I think that, you know, I was saving for it for a very long time. And there just isn't a ton out there, I feel.
And sometimes it can feel very daunting.

**Brigid Bergen** (2:14)
Since that first video on Saturday night, AOC has gone on to post Daily, showing the entire process she's going through to freeze her eggs. She talks about the medication and the costs and the side effects. These videos, they're really personal, and they've tapped into something larger than her individual experience. This all comes, of course, as speculation mounts about her political future and her private life. That intersection of the personal, the professional, the political is something my next guest writes about and has wrestled with. Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. She's also the co-author of The New York Times bestseller, Mad House, How Donald Trump, Maga Mean Girls, a former used car salesman, a Florida nepo baby, and a man with rats in his walls broke Congress. Annie, thanks so much for making some time for us on this Summer Friday. That book title is really long to say.
Annie, do we have you?
Just one moment while we have some technical issue here, and we'll get Annie on the line. Annie, thanks for joining us.

**Annie Karni** (3:38)
Thanks. Sorry about the technical difficulties. Thanks for having me.

**Brigid Bergen** (3:41)
No problem. So we started and played a piece of an Instagram post from AOC. I don't know if you've heard it, but-

**Annie Karni** (3:49)
I did. I heard that, yes.

**Brigid Bergen** (3:50)
Okay, great. So how much have you watched these posts so far, and what were some of your initial impressions?

**Annie Karni** (3:59)
I've watched them all. I think, look, she's so good at this.
This is how she's come up, sharing personal Instagram lives. She's been in office since she was 28 We've watched her make black bean soup. We've watched her assemble IKEA furniture while answering policy questions and telling us about what it's like to be in Congress. She did one after January 6th, talking about her trauma from the mob attack on the Capitol. So this is her story.

**Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez** (4:32)
I've still had to really work very hard to get into a financial position to do this. And because it is a sacrifice, you have to really think.

**Brigid Bergen** (4:45)
Sorry about that, Annie. You were talking about some of AOC's evolution there. She started as a 28-year-old in Congress.
And her win was something that really changed the political dynamic in the House.
You were talking about her fluency with Instagram and her ability to connect with people that extend far beyond her congressional district boundary lines and how she has evolved her ability to communicate with them. I wonder if you could talk a little bit from a political standpoint, the way she started her career on the Hill and kind of how she is viewed now.