'The View' Host Ana Navarro Reveals Why She Never Had Kids Despite Trying IVF: 'It Was Too Late'

Lou Rocco/ABC/Getty

Ana Navarro is opening up about the reason why she never had kids.

The co-host of The View revealed on Wednesday's episode of the ABC daytime show that she previously attempted to have a baby through in vitro fertilization, but that the procedure was unsuccessful.

"By the time I tried, it was too late," said Navarro, 50, who wed husband Al Cárdenas in 2019. "With IVF, Al and I tried."

"I always tell women who are career women who are trying to get into that space, 'Look, if you can afford it — and that's a big if — if you can afford it, you should freeze your eggs,' " she added. "Just because it leaves you with a level of options."

Her disclosure came during a frank discussion among co-hosts Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin about the expectations placed upon women to have a baby on a certain timeline.

RELATED: Andrew Garfield Admits He Has 'Some Guilt' Around Not Having Kids Ahead of Turning 40

ABC/Jeff Lipsky

Hostin — who is a mom to son Gabriel, 20, and daughter Paloma, 16 — has been vocal about her own struggles with IVF in the past. "I got married at 40, my husband was younger, and I had to go through round after round after round — five miscarriages to have two children," Hostin, 54, recalled. "And we depleted our savings. It took us 10 years to be back to where we were before we wanted to have children. That's why they owe me everything!"

"The problem with infertility is many of us suffer in silence," she continued. "I was on blogs, I didn't want to mention it to many friends. ... it's a very difficult thing, which is why I think women have to be very transparent with their experiences."

RELATED: Sunny Hostin Says She Admires Afro-Latina Stars Who Embrace Their Blackness: 'I'm No Longer Alone'

She, like Navarro, went on to praise the process of freezing one's eggs, saying, "At 39, a woman's eggs, they're like powder, they're like scrambled. So unless you've had the foresight, unless you have the money, you can't be as cavalier about having children."

But Haines, 45, pointed to some of the downsides to the procedure. "Freezing eggs and some of those options are also expensive and not available to most people, so the pressure remains on a lot of women," said the host, who shares son Caleb Joseph, 3, daughter Sandra Grace, 5 next month, and son Alec Richard, 6½, with her lawyer husband Max Shifrin. "I was able to eke out a powdered egg at 41... but I think there's a pressure."

"I love throwing milestones out the window. It's good to have a vision for your life but it will never look the way you planned it, for better or worse. To hold yourself accountable to your own milestones or those of others is always going to leave you disappointed," she added, stressing that "we also have to embrace women who decided they don't want to have kids. That's not all they're here for!"

Removing that pressure is something Farah Griffin hopes to experience in her own life.

"All people need to be easier on someone when they're going through this," the 33-year-old said. "I'm at that age where I'm a newlywed, I'm in my 30s, I am going to get my eggs out, but every time I call a family member, there's this air of disappointment."

RELATED: Alyssa Farah Griffin Claims Trump Is 'Wholly Unfit' for Office as She Reflects on Her Time in White House

Wednesday's topic was inspired by Andrew Garfield's GQ cover story, in which he admitted to feeling some guilt around not having kids yet ahead of turning 40.

Discussing his remarks, Navarro noted how many men have babies on their own timelines, citing Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, who both welcomed their second children at 54.

"Don Lemon keeps calling me and saying, 'Ana, let's have a baby,' " Navarro said, joking, "Mine aren't even powdered, they're fossilized. 'I can't give you an egg!' "

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.

Weighing in last was Behar, 80, who is mom to an adult daughter. "We're in a major population explosion in this world. We're up to 8 billion people. A century and a half ago, it was 1 billion people," she said, joking, "Calm down with the babies."

The View airs weekdays (11 a.m. ET) on ABC.