Where Is the First ‘Test-Tube Baby’ Now? All About Louise Joy Brown, the First Child Ever Born via IVF

Mar. 15, 2025

Keystone/Getty ; Jeff Spicer/Getty

Though Dr. Edwards, Dr. Steptoe and Purdy had been able to create viable embryos, they had yet to achieve a successful pregnancy — that is, until Louise’s revolutionary birth in 1978.

Since then,more than 12 million babies have been born as a result of IVFand other assisted reproductive technologies. The procedure has helped millions of people struggling with infertility and has made parenthood possible for same-sex couples and single individuals.

Now, a new Netflix film,Joy, pays tribute to the people who pioneered IVF and made Louise’s birth — and millions of others — possible. The fictionalized retelling, which starsBill Nighy,James NortonandThomasin McKenzie, began streaming on Netflix on Nov. 22.

Who is Louise Joy Brown?

Louise Brown poses for photographs following a press conference to mark her approaching fortieth birthday, at the Science Museum on July 23, 2018 in London, England.Leon Neal/Getty

Leon Neal/Getty

Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had struggled with infertility for nine years, according toThe New York Times. Tests revealed that Lesley’s fallopian tubes were blocked, making her unable to conceive a child on her own. However, a doctor at a local health clinic informed Lesley about Dr. Patrick Steptoe, who was developing a treatment for women with blocked tubes. Though the experimental procedure offered just a “one in a million” chance of success, Lesley turned to Dr. Steptoe for help, according to thewebsite of the world’s first IVF clinic, Bourn Hall.

Not only did Dr. Steptoe and Dr. Edwards make Louise’s birth possible, they also played a part in naming her. The two suggested a middle name that would pay homage to the influence Louise’s birth would have for generations to come.

“Doctors gave me the middle name of ‘Joy’because they said my birth could bring joy to many people,” Louise recounted to PEOPLE in 2017. “I want to live up to that name.”

Louise’s parents would go on to have a second child via IVF: their daughter, Natalie, was born in 1982 and became the 40th child in the world to be born thanks to in vitro fertilization.

What was the public reaction to Louise Joy Brown’s birth?

Keystone/Getty

Louise began to attract attention from the press and the public before she was even born. When news of Lesley’s pregnancy via IVF was leaked to the media, she was forced to go into hiding to protect herself and her unborn child.

And while Lesley’s cesarean section was planned for the middle of the night to avoid alerting the press, the birth itself was filmed to prove the damage to her fallopian tubes.

“Otherwise, there would have been skeptics who might claim that she could have become pregnant naturally, no matter what we said,” Dr. John Webster, who delivered Louise, told theBBCin 2003.

And while the Browns received hundreds of cards from well-wishers and those struggling to conceive, there was “hate mail” as well, as Louise recalled to theBBCin 2015. Some raised questions about the ethics of in vitro fertilization, while others criticized the Browns for making the birth so public.

“My parents didn’t have a choice about making it public,” Louise toldTIMEin 2018. “If they didn’t, they would have had people asking ‘Why can’t we see her? What’s wrong with her?' ”

She continued, “Steptoe and Edwards needed the birth to be public. Had there been anything at all wrong with me, it would have been the end of IVF.”

Where are Dr. Steptoe, Dr. Edwards and Jean Purdy now?

British nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy and physiologist Robert Edwards in their research laboratory in Cambridge, 28th February 1968.Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

All three of the scientists responsible for in vitro fertilization have since died.

Purdy died on March 16, 1985, from malignant melanoma at just 39 years old, according toBourn Hall, the fertility clinic she helped found. Three years later, on March 21, 1988, Dr. Steptoe died at the age of 74,The New York Timesreported. He also had cancer, his family shared at the time.

Louise paid tribute to Dr. Edwards after learning of his death in 2013.

Louise Joy Brown attends “Joy” Headline Gala during the 68th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 15, 2024 in London, England.Jeff Spicer/Getty

Jeff Spicer/Getty

As of 2017, Louise was a clerk for an international sea freight company, in addition to her work as an advocate for the procedure that made her existence possible.

“I felt that their memories needed to be preserved and I thought it was important for people to know the story from the family’s point of view,” Louise told PEOPLE in 2017. “I was thankful that my parents took me out of the limelight when I was young, so that I could have a normal upbringing.”

In her personal life, Louise married Wesley Mullinder, a security officer, in 2004. The couple have two sons together: Cameron, born in 2006, and Aiden, born in 2013. Both children were conceived without the help of fertility treatments.

Louise has been a part of and shared her excitement over various depictions of her conception and birth, including Netflix’s 2024 movie,Joy. A month before its release, Louise posted the trailer onInstagramand wrote in the caption, “Am really excited about this can’t wait ❤️❤️.” She also attended the film’s Headline Gala at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2024.

Earlier in the year, Louisecelebrated the premiere of a stage showin Bristol calledA Child of Science, starringTom FeltonandSonoya Mizuno.

source: people.com