Emmanuelle Chriqui gets emotional over her desire to adopt: ‘I really believe I could love that baby as my own’

Emmanuelle Chriqui dreams of becoming a mom to a child most in need of love.

“You know when people have that feeling about wanting to have a kid? I have that feeling when I think about having a little baby that needs a home. I really believe that I could love that baby as my own,” the actress said Monday on Conversations with Maria Menounos on SiriusXM Stars (Ch. 109). “I don’t need to have my own.”

Chriqui, 40, explained why she’s especially wary of getting pregnant because of her family history.

“It’s so complicated. I think I’m still working out my reasons,” she said. “There is a little fear genetically. I think having been technically now an orphan, having lost both my parents to very ugly disease, I’m just like, ‘Oh God.’ And by the way, lame argument, because you could adopt a kid and who knows what their genetic makeup is. You just don’t know. All I can say is that it pulls at my heartstrings. The notion of that pulls at my heartstrings.”

The Entourage star said her boyfriend wants to have a baby with her, but a visit to Congo reaffirmed her belief that she’s destined to adopt.

“On one of my trips I went to this orphanage deep, deep, deep into the city, and I was never the same,” she said. “There was four babies per crib that were children of mothers that had been raped and then just abandoned. Some of them were HIV positive. The most beautiful, precious little souls that I’ve ever seen. And I just couldn’t conceive of having my own.”

“The big answer is I don’t know what the hell the future has planned, but I do know that most likely, adoption is in my future,” she concluded.

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