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November 2, 2025 
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As a younger woman, MaryBeth Lewis had five daughters. When empty nest syndrome kicked in, she wanted to expand her family, so she used I.V.F. to have eight more babies. At the age of 62, she gave birth to her 13th child.
For her husband, 13 children were enough. But not for MaryBeth. When he resisted to use two of their remaining embryos, she forged his signature and lied to a notary, a surrogate, and even a judge. The prosecution and defense in her case agree on little else but this: in the pantheon of I.V.F. custody battles, MaryBeth is one of one, without precedent.
For this week’s cover story, Parul Sehgal takes a look at our obsession with the Frankenstein monster, a creature movies and popular culture can’t seem to stop reanimating. She spoke with Guillermo del Toro about his new movie and how he sees Mary Shelley’s original vision of this creation myth.
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| Photo illustration by Hannah Whitaker. Prop styling by Heather Greene. Source photographs: Everett Collection; Niday Picture Library/Alamy; TCD/Prod DB/Alamy. |
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