From PEOPLE Magazine Click to enlarge
Marissa Jaret Winokur has a lot of dance steps to keep track of these days. But learning the fox-trot isn't the only thing on her mind: "I have to remind myself," says the Dancing with the Stars contestant, 35, "that we're pregnant!" Seven years ago, the Tony-winning Hairspray star was diagnosed with cervical cancer after a routine pap smear. In order to treat the disease, she underwent a hysterectomy at 27. At the time, Winokur hadn't thought much about having a family. "I was like, 'Take the uterus—save me,'" she recalls. Now married to comedy writer Judah Miller, 34, Winokur is happily expecting via a surrogate. "I didn't think there'd be a biological chance for me to have a baby," says Winokur, who was able to become an expectant mom after doctors implanted her fertilized egg into the surrogate's womb. Now five months along, the woman has become a close friend of the family, talking to the actress "five or six times a day," says Winokur. "I couldn't be more a part of what's going on unless I was carrying the baby myself." Adds the surrogate: "Marissa has become my best friend and my sister." Counting down the days until she meets her son—whom the couple have named Zev—Winokur plans to keep on dancing, no matter what happens on TV. "I don't care if I win or lose," she says. "Because in the end, I'm getting a baby."

  • Contributors:
  • Monica Rizzo/Los Angeles.