Celebrity Moms Who Were Honest About Miscarriage
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Miscarriage is a heavy but important topic, so when celebrities share their own experiences, the impact is huge.
According to the Mayo Clinic, miscarriage is the “spontaneous loss” of pregnancy before the 20th week (with most occurring before the 12th week), and anywhere between 10 and 20 percent of known pregnancies end within this stage. The health organization estimates that the actual number is higher because miscarriage can occur before a person even realizes they are pregnant. While every case is different, notes Mayo, miscarriage usually happens because the fetus has not developed the way it should, and certain conditions such as maternal diabetes, hormonal problems, and infections can contribute.
Despite how common it is for women to miscarry, pregnancy loss isn’t always an accepted topic of discussion. In 2020, Meghan Markle revealed her own miscarriage in a New York Times essay, which occurred after the birth of her son Archie, 3, and before the birth of daughter Lilibet, 1 (whom she shares with husband Prince Harry).
“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” wrote Markle. “In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage. Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”
Markle added, “Some have bravely shared their stories; they have opened the door, knowing that when one person speaks truth, it gives license for all of us to do the same. We have learned that when people ask how any of us are doing, and when they really listen to the answer, with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter — for all of us. In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
Other celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, Beyoncé, Gabrielle Union, and Demi Moore have bravely stepped forward to share their own losses, and we applaud them for it. Ahead, we’ve gathered some of their vulnerable and courageous insights.
This article was originally published in August 2016.
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Megan Fox
Megan Fox told Good Morning America in November 2023 that she suffered a miscarriage with Machine Gun Kelly.
“I had never been through anything like that before in my life,” Fox said. “I have three kids, so it was very difficult for both of us. And it sent us on a very wild journey together and separately, and together and apart, and together and apart, and together and apart, trying to navigate, ‘What does this mean? Why did this happen?'”
The Pretty Boys Are Poisonous author is mom to Noah (b. 2012), Bodhi (b. 2014), and Journey (b. 2016) with ex Brian Austin Green.
Mary Fitzgerald
In the Season 7 premiere episode of Selling Sunset, Mary Fitzgerald and husband Romain Bonnet announced they were expecting their first child together (Fitzgerald is also mom to son Austin, born in 1999, from a previous relationship). Tragically, they found out at a doctor’s appointment a few episodes later that there was no heartbeat during an ultrasound.
“It was heartbreaking to say the least,” she told TODAY. “I was just in shock.”
She added, “I honestly didn’t consider that I could lose the baby. I was just so excited and so focused on this new future, even though realistically I always knew that there was that chance. I just never let my mind go there. I was just optimistic and positive about it.”
Previously, she shared the news to her followers in an Instagram video. “It’s not always sunshine and butterflies, and that is ok. I wanted to share this in the hopes of letting others know they are not alone,” she wrote in the caption. “I promised I would be truthful and keep you guys updated. I have been asked some questions, and finally found it within me to address this. We won’t be giving up… and if this message speaks to you in any way or you are feeling down, helpless, alone… please know we are in this together. Hang in there…”
Britney Spears
One month after Britney Spears and then-fiancé Sam Asghari (who split in July 2023) announced they were expecting in 2022, they announced a miscarriage.
“It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that we have lost our miracle baby early in the pregnancy,” they wrote in a joint statement on Instagram. “This is a devastating time for any parent. Perhaps we should have waited to announce until we were further along, however, we were overly excited to share the good news. We will continue trying to expand our beautiful family. We are grateful for all of your support. We kindly ask for privacy during this difficult moment. Sam & Britney.”
Tana Ramsay
In June 2023, Gordon Ramsay’s wife Tana shared an emotional Instagram post where she once again got honest about a tragic miscarriage she suffered in 2016. She shared a photo of her and her husband Gordon with their children, Megan (b. 1998), twins Holly and Jack (b. 2000), and Matilda (b. 2001). They also share Oscar (not pictured) who was born in 2019.
“A happy picture taken of us celebrating Megan’s 18th, I was just under 20 weeks pregnant,” Tana captioned the photo. “Little did we know, a few days later I would be holding our little boy Rocky — born with a strong heartbeat, but too little to survive.”
“Although it’s 7 years today, it still feels like yesterday,” she continued. “We all miss you everyday. We love you Rocky, forever in our hearts. I couldn’t do this without my family, you are all everything to me 👼🏻🖤 xxxxxxxx.”
Kate Mara
In June 2020, Kate Mara shared on the Informed Pregnancy podcast that she’d had a miscarriage. She explained that she had a blighted ovum, which is a gestational sac in the uterus that forms without the presence of an embryo. “I didn’t know what that was at the time. So [the doctor] said, ‘Basically, you’ve miscarried, but it just hasn’t left your body yet.’”
Lisa Guerrero
In her 2023 memoir Warrior, award-winning journalist, former sportscaster, actress, model, and artist Lisa Guerrero outlined the heartbreaking moment that she had a miscarriage live on-air in the middle of a football game.
“The pain was excruciating. I heard myself mispronounce a player’s name and knew I’d hear about it later,” she said. “As soon as I finished, I raced off to interview a coach. Then I headed to the bathroom. As I sat on the toilet, I couldn’t believe the blood pouring out of me. It had soaked through my pants. I shoved a bunch of paper towels in my underwear.”
Describing her state as “a shell of myself,” Guerrero continues, “The only thought that crossed my mind was that I could get through the rest of the game as long as I buttoned up my long winter coat. That way, no one would see the blood. It was as if I were on autopilot. Get back on the sideline. Interview the coach.”
Lily Allen
In a 2009 interview with The Telegraph, Lily Allen opened up about her January 2008 miscarriage, sharing, “I just didn’t deal with it at all. I didn’t even start beginning to deal with it until the baby’s due date. Then it just hit me like a house collapsing. The week before the due date, all I wanted to do was talk about my baby, but I also felt I shouldn’t.”
The singer also tragically miscarried in 2010 six months into her pregnancy. In her documentary, Lily Allen: Rags to Riches, Allen said, “It was a really long battle, and I think that kind of thing changes a person.”
Christina Perri
After miscarrying in January 2020, Christina Perri took to Twitter in November 2020 to announce she had miscarried again, this time in the third trimester. Perri shared a photo of herself holding her daughter’s hand, captioning it “She was born silent after fighting so hard to make it to our world. She is at peace now and will live forever in our hearts.”
When Perri announced her pregnancy with daughter Pixie Rose in May 2022, she included daughters Carmella (b. 2018) and Rosie, who she miscarried in Nov. 2020. She shares the girls with husband Paul Costabile.
“Rosie sent carmella a little sister,” Perri wrote on Instagram Monday. “And we’re very excited. We’ve been having all the feelings, but mostly trying everyday to choose joy🌸.”
Becca Tobin
Former Glee actress Becca Tobin shared her experience with multiple miscarriages and IVF on the LadyGang podcast in 2020. She shared, “In my earlier 30s I was having an ultrasound and the doctor said, ‘Oh my gosh, look at all those eggs,’ so I had a false sense of confidence in my ability to make a baby.”
She welcomed a son via surrogate in 2022, sharing the news on Instagram: “It took him five years to get here, but it’s been worth every minute. Thank you to our amazing surrogate for bringing him here safely surrounded by so much love.”
Paula Faris
Television journalist Paula Faris recalled her third miscarriage during a guest appearance on The View. Turning it into a teaching moment for her tween daughter, Faris shared, “I brought my daughter into the restroom with me. I showed her what was going on, and I said, ‘I just want to let you know, Mommy is … the baby is probably no longer viable.'”
She continued, “‘Mommy doesn’t feel any guilt. This is normal. It happens to so many women. It’s happened to me a couple of other times. When you get pregnant, it might happen to you, honey. And I want you to know there’s nothing you did wrong.'”
“It’s important to grieve, but it’s also important to know that this happens to so many of us,” Faris concluded.
Cher
In the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned, Cher took to her social media to tell her loyal fans about her multiple miscarriages.
“When I was young I had 3 miscarriages. 1st at 18. I was alone in our house. son came home & I was sobbing & rocking on our floor. when I got 2 dr I was screaming in pain. couldn’t even stop in elevator. dr sent me straight 2 hospital & in2 operating rm,” she wrote. “WHAT WOULD HAPPEN 2 ME TODAY.”
Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone opened up in 2022 about her nine devastating pregnancy losses. She wrote, “We, as females, don’t have a forum to discuss the profundity of this loss. I lost nine children by miscarriage. It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally, yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly with some kind of sense of failure. Instead of receiving the much-needed compassion and empathy and healing which we so need.”
Rachel Weisz
On May 17, Rachel Weisz revealed on The New Agents podcast that she has had a miscarriage. “I was surprised, you know, women having a miscarriage. I’ve had a miscarriage so suddenly you see blood coming out of your body,” she said. “These are all just part of the female experience of being alive.”
Lauren Kitt
Nick Carter’s wife, Lauren Kitt, experienced pregnancy loss in 2018. She took to Instagram in 2019 to share an ultrasound photo on what would have been the baby’s due date, writing, “If you are struggling to start a family or have had a loss this post is for you, you’re not alone and there is always hope.”
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander recently opened up about her “extreme, painful” miscarriage before welcoming her first child. She told the Times, “I tried to get pregnant for a while. So I had tough times during lockdown [amid the coronavirus pandemic]… For a while I didn’t think that I could get pregnant.”
She almost didn’t open up about this but decided she wanted to work on breaking the stigma as well. “I kind of stopped and thought, ‘Am I going to talk about this?’” she added. “But so many women go through similar things.”
Chrissy Teigen
Teigen shared in late September 2020 that she had tragically lost her pregnancy — what would have been a son that she husband John Legend had named Jack.
“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before,” she wrote on Instagram. “We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough.”
In Sept. 2022, Teigen explained that she had to have a medical abortion. “Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Jack, John and my third child, I had to make a lot of difficult and heartbreaking decisions,” she said at the “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation” summit, per Entertainment Tonight. “It became very clear around halfway through that he would not survive, and that I wouldn’t either without any medical intervention. Let’s just call it what it was: It was an abortion.” She added, “An abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance.”
Tiffany Haddish
In July 2023, Tiffany Haddish revealed she had experienced a staggering 8 miscarriages. During an interview with The Washington Post, she shared, “I don’t want people saying, ‘Are you okay? Are you all right?’ Like a wounded animal, I just rather go in a cave by myself. Lick my wounds.”
After her eighth pregnancy loss, the comedian was diagnosed with endometriosis. The diagnosis came as a shock to her, which is why Haddish decided to go public with her story in case it might help other people in similar situations.
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan revealed that she miscarried while filming her docuseries. “No one knows this, and we can finish after this, I had a miscarriage for the two weeks that I took off,” she said during her reality show finale. “It’s a very long story.”
Lohan didn’t share who the father was, but did reveal how the experience affected her. “I couldn’t move. I was sick. And mentally that messes with you,” she said on the show.
Lohan welcomed son Luai in 2023 with husband Bader Shammas.
Meghan Markle
In 2020, Meghan Markle wrote a powerful New York Times essay about her miscarriage after she and Prince Harry welcomed son Archie to their family. “Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand,” she wrote. “I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal.”
The Duchess also condemned the stigma of pregnancy loss: “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few; [however,] in being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”
In June 2021, Markle and Prince Harry welcomed a daughter named Lilibet.
Gabrielle Union
In her 2017 memoir We’re Going to Need More Wine, actress Gabrielle Union opens up about everything from being a stepmother to husband Dwyane Wade’s kids to the fact that she had multiple miscarriages. “For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.”
'We're Going to Need More Wine' by Gabrielle Union
Jana Kramer
In 2019, Jana Kramer shared on Instagram that she miscarried after trying IVF with Mike Caussin, who she divorced in 2021. “The embryo was a boy and it was the last embryo we had. I was devastated,” she wrote. “I felt like I failed as a woman, and as a wife. IVF wasn’t an option again because it’s too expensive so I felt defeated. I felt blessed that we at least had our Jolie Rae but our family just didn’t feel complete yet. So I prayed. Boy did I pray for you. And a month later Jace was created.”
The country singer added, “To all the women out there who have suffered miscarriages and still waiting for your rainbow baby, you are not alone. And I know nothing I say will make the yearning or pain any better but if anything know you’re not alone and that I was in the same spot a year ago. I pray you will see your silver lining too.”
Laura Benanti
In April 2023, Laura Benanti suffered a devastating miscarriage while performing in front of two thousand people. Just days later, the actor and singer shared the news in an emotional post in which she thanked those who were there for her and destigmatized the terrible event.
“I knew it was happening,” the Younger star wrote. “It started slowly the night before. If it had been our first loss, or even our second, I likely wouldn’t have been able to go on. But unfortunately, I am not a stranger to the pain and emptiness of losing a pregnancy. It is a path I have walked before, hand in hand with my husband.”
Benanti and her husband Patrick Brown suffered their first miscarriage years before welcoming their first daughter, Ella (b. 2017). Their second daughter, Louisa, was born via surrogate in Feb. 2022.
“But this time we walked it alongside some of the kindest, most loving humans I will ever have the honor to share space with,” she continued. “Thank you to everyone in that audience for the grace your presence allowed…thank you to my band for holding me, unconditionally, in your hearts, and to the crew for working so hard to make me as comfortable as possible…Thank you to my remarkable [in-laws] for shielding Ella from the reality of this experience…while ‘Mama’s back hurt.'”
“Thank you to that little soul for choosing me as your home, even for a short time,” Benanti wrote. “[We] are so grateful for the family that we have, and the miracle of our two little girls. One carried by me and one carried by an angel-on-earth.”
“[We] are heartbroken and we will move through this together as we, and so many others, have done before. I share all of this, not to garner sympathy or attention, but to remind the many people and families who have and will suffer in this way that there is no shame in this kind of loss. That you are not alone. And to remind myself as well. 🤍”
Beyoncé
Beyoncé revealed in her 2013 HBO documentary Life Is But a Dream that she had a miscarriage a few years before giving birth to her first child, Blue Ivy.
“About two years ago, I was pregnant for the first time,” she said. “And I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life. I picked out names. I envisioned what my child would look like… I was feeling very maternal.”
“I flew back to New York to get my check up, and no heartbeat,” she shared. “Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat. I went into the studio and wrote the saddest song I’ve ever written in my life. And it was actually the first song I wrote for my album. And it was the best form of therapy for me, because it was the saddest thing I’ve ever been through.”
Nicole Kidman
Kidman told Tatler that the miscarriage she suffered in 2001 while married to Tom Cruise caused “a huge, aching yearning. And the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough — that’s massive grief… [But] there’s an enormous amount of pain and an enormous amount of joy on the other side of it.”
Aubrey O’Day
Aubrey O’Day suffered a miscarriage at 20 weeks pregnant, and now she is opening up in the hopes that she can be there for those who have faced the same devastation.
“I want all the women out there in the world that have experienced this grief to feel all the love my soul has to offer, and more importantly remain reminded that we are here to support each other!” she told E! News. “So if you need someone to talk to, reach out to me on Instagram [@aubreyoday] and I will be your sounding board and someone you can confide in.”
As she processes the grief and shame that she, like so many other women face (misguided as it is!), she looks toward the future. The 39-year-old Danity Kane singer knows that “when [her] baby is ready, he/she will come.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” she wrote about the loss on Instagram. “I’ll always love u my lil one. 🤍”
Michelle Obama
In her 2018 memoir Becoming, former first lady Michelle Obama reflected on her miscarriage, which occurred 20 years prior. “We were trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t going well,” she wrote of her and former President Barack Obama’s struggle to have children. “We had one pregnancy test come back positive, which caused us both to forget every worry and swoon with joy, but a couple of weeks later I had a miscarriage, which left me physically uncomfortable and cratered any optimism we felt.”
'Becoming' by Michelle Obama
Gwyneth Paltrow
In 2013, the Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow revealed to the Daily Mail that she had miscarried her third pregnancy.
“My children ask me to have a baby all the time. And you never know, I could squeeze one more in. I am missing my third. I’m thinking about it,” she told the publication of her thoughts on having more kids. “But I had a really bad experience when I was pregnant with my third. It didn’t work out, and I nearly died. So I am like, ‘Are we good here, or should we go back and try again?’”
Hilarie Burton Morgan
Mother-of-two Hilarie Burton Morgan said she felt guilt after going through miscarriage. “When you get blindsided by your body, that betrayal of your body is very hard to overcome,” Burton told People in 2020 about the loss.
“But there’s this thing that happens to your body after a miscarriage,” she added. “Every single ache and every single pain, all of a sudden you’re scared it’s a death. It’s got to be the worst-case scenario. And I didn’t realize I had that, but every time I would have a cramp, I was scared it was something serious.”
Shay Mitchell
In 2019, You star Shay Mitchell shared that she miscarried the year prior, writing on Instagram, “We all have to deal with various struggles and challenges in life. The support and affection that so many of you show me lifts me up during even my darkest days, one of which happened last year after I miscarried and lost the child of my hopes and dreams.”
Savannah Guthrie
In 2022, Savannah Guthrie opened up to Good Housekeeping about experiencing a miscarriage after giving birth to her first child. The NBC anchor would later go through two rounds of IVF.
“I stopped even letting myself hope or believe I could [get pregnant], because the years were getting on,” she said. “It wasn’t that I thought it was impossible; I just thought it wasn’t likely. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didn’t happen: Maybe it’s not meant for me, and that’s OK because I’ve already been blessed so much in my life. I’m not entitled to have a baby too. Looking back, that mindset was probably a self-defense mechanism.”
Hilaria Baldwin
Hilaria Baldwin, who has seven children with actor Alec Baldwin, was candid about her pregnancy loss which occured in April 2019 and again in November of that year. In April 2021, to honor Infertility Awareness Week, the yoga instructor and podcast host shared her feelings on Instagram. “I was told ‘it’s just bad luck’… There is so much mystery why certain souls come into our lives and others do not,” she wrote.
“I think of the babies I lost daily,” Hilaria added. “We all have different fertility/infertility stories and there are so many ways we can become parents.”
Courteney Cox
“I had a bunch of miscarriages,” the Friends actor said on her web series, 9 Months with Courteney Cox. “But I was lucky enough to have my little girl, Coco, who I had through IVF.”
She also explained to Entertainment Tonight why she’s so open about her experiences with miscarriage: “If I can share any light or give wisdom to somebody, or hope, of course, I would share anything I can. I think that’s important.”
Halsey
In 2016, Halsey told Rolling Stone that they miscarried before going stage at a concert. “It’s the angriest performance that I’ve ever done in my life,” they said, adding that they took Percocet and wore two adult diapers to get through the loss while continuing their performance for their fans.
They welcomed child Ender in 2021 with ex-partner Alev Aydin.
Whitney Port
Whitney Port suffered two miscarriages — the first in 2019, she revealed in an essay for Refinery29, and the second in 2021. The experience, she wrote, “was like emotional whiplash — swinging from one extreme to the other with no foresight into what the next moment would hold.” And caring for her son Sonny (who was born in 2017) made grieving the loss more difficult.
“As a mother, it’s hard to even grant myself time to feel feelings because I’m so consumed with life and caring for my child,” she admitted, giving comfort to others who have walked in her shoes. “To the many women trying to get pregnant, doing everything ‘right’ and still having miscarriages, I hope you know that it’s not your fault,” she wrote. “You’re only human.”
The Hills alum suffered her second pregnancy loss in January 2021. “I’m sad but I’m ok and we will try again,” she wrote on Instagram. “I also have so much sadness in my heart for anyone that has to go through this or has gone through this. I know though that our community will share, band together and support- cause you always do.”
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood told Women’s Health that her multiple miscarriages have been taxing mentally and physically: “For my body to not be doing something it was ‘supposed to do’ was a tough pill to swallow,” she said in a 2020 interview. “It reminded me I’m not in control of everything.”
On her series Mike & Carrie: God & Country, Underwood opened up further about her miscarriages before and between her pregnancies with sons Isaiah and Jacob. Even her husband, Mike Fisher, got vulnerable: “You have all these mountaintops, but we hadn’t had a ton of valleys like this,” he says of the miscarriages they experienced as a family.
Hope Solo
Former women’s soccer pro Hope Solo and husband Jerramy Stevens welcomed twins Lozen and Vittorio in March 2020 — but Solo has made no secret of the fact that this happy event occurred only two years after she miscarried in 2018.
“The doctor said I was hours from dying,” she told Elle in 2019 of her first pregnancy with twin fetuses — one of which, it turned out, was ectopic. “They ended up having to remove my fallopian tube.”
Demi Moore
In her memoir Inside Out, Demi Moore writes about becoming pregnant at age 42 while married to Ashton Kutcher — and miscarrying about six months along. “I tried to allow myself to mourn, but it was so confusing. How could I grieve a person who’d never been in the world?”
“Ashton did his best to connect with me in my grief. He tried to be there for me during the miscarriage, but he couldn’t really understand what I was feeling,” she added.
'Inside Out' by Demi Moore
Kimberly Van Der Beek
Mother of five Kimberly Van Der Beek, who is married to former Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek, suffered a series of pregnancy losses, her husband shared on Instagram in 2020.
“After suffering a brutal, very public miscarriage last November, we were overjoyed to learn we were pregnant,” he wrote.” This time, we kept the news to ourselves. But last weekend, once again, 17 weeks in… the soul we’d been excited to welcome into the world had lessons for our family that did not include joining us in a living physical body.”
He added, “And to all the families who have gone through this… you are not alone.”
Beverly Mitchell
Seventh Heaven alum Beverly Mitchell shared in a 2018 blog post that she had become pregnant with twins, but “our new dream of our growing family came crashing down; we had a miscarriage.”
She continued, “My heart could not make sense of it. I never really considered that I would miscarry being that I had already had two healthy pregnancies. This was my misconception, you see, I didn’t know much about miscarriages and I didn’t know many people who had miscarried, or so I thought.”
Mitchell wrote, “Most people who are sharing their story, we aren’t looking for anything, just the opportunity to share their story. It is with sharing it that the healing begins, the acceptance that it happened. It is when you ignore it or pretend that it never happened that you cause more pain. Dismissing it almost makes it worse.”
Mariah Carey
Before giving birth to her twins Monroe and Moroccan, Mariah Carey and her then-husband Nick Cannon revealed that she had a miscarriage.
“Literally, the day we were supposed to travel to Aspen we had an ultrasound. Unfortunately that was a time where [the doctor] said, ‘I’m sorry but the pregnancy is unsuccessful.'”
“It was really sad. We had really to absorb this… We really learned a lot just as people. It was even more of, like, preparing us to do this because of the way it happened so quickly at first. I think I was sort of in shock because I didn’t expect [the pregnancy]… and then when that happened and I wasn’t able to even talk to anybody about it, that was not OK, that was not easy.”
Jamie King
Former SHE Media BlogHer Health keynote speaker Jamie King does not hold back when it comes to sharing her truth — including miscarriage and endometriosis.
“I continued to miscarry and miscarry, and it took many years for me to have my first child,” she told the audience at #BlogHer19 Health in Los Angeles. “And when I was going through this, I cannot explain what it felt like — that this one thing that we’re told as women is that our gift is that we can carry life, and all of a sudden someone says, ‘Oh, maybe that might be in question.’”
That quest for truth-telling didn’t stop when she gave birth to her son James Knight in 2013. “When I had my child, it was all over the press and all over the news. I just felt like it was missing something,” King said. “It was just this happy perfect… bullshit. It’s not like my family wasn’t perfect, it’s just that the journey that it took to get there nobody knew about. So that’s when I wrote a long essay that this was the truth about the journey to have this beautiful child.”
Lisa Ling
Former View co-host Lisa Ling opened up about her miscarriage, which happened in 2010 when she was seven weeks pregnant. “I felt more like a failure than I’d felt in a very long time.”
“We actually [hadn’t] been trying that long,” she said of her pregnancy journey with husband Paul Song. “I don’t know that I took it as seriously as I should have because it happened so fast. But then when I heard the doctor say there was no heartbeat it was like bam, like a knife through the heart.”
Céline Dion
Céline Dion opened up about her struggles with infertility to Oprah Winfrey, revealing that she didn’t share her miscarriage news initially. “They said that I was pregnant, and a couple of days after, we were not pregnant again. We didn’t want to feel like we were playing yo-yo. ‘I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant. I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant.’ So we didn’t want to do this thing. But we did have a miscarriage.”
Dion, who now has three children, kept an optimistic attitude. “It’s life, you know? A lot of people go through this. We tried four times to have a child. We’re still trying. We’re on the fifth try, and I’ll tell you, if five is my lucky number, this fifth try has got to come in.”
Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields struggled with infertility and eventually was able to conceive after IVF, but she sadly miscarried. “Everyone around me was getting pregnant. I was starting to feel bitter,” Shields wrote in her memoir, Down Came the Rain.
“Maybe I really wasn’t meant to have kids… I didn’t want to be happy anymore for the many other people who were having kids. I knew that their blessing had nothing to do with me, but it felt like a slap in the face.”
'Down Came the Rain' by Brooke Shields
Pink
Singer Pink and her husband, Carey Hart, have two children, Willow and Jameson. But in 2019, the singer revealed to USA Today that she experienced a miscarriage at age 17.
“I was going to have that child,” she told the outlet. “But when that happens to a woman or a young girl, you feel like your body hates you and like your body is broken, and it’s not doing what it’s supposed to do. I’ve had several miscarriages since.”
Alanis Morissette
While appearing on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Alanis Morissette (who shares three children with her musician husband Souleye) revealed that she experienced “a bunch of miscarriages.” The year before, she told Self that pregnancy loss filled her with “grief and fear” adding, “I chased and prayed for pregnancy and learned so much about my body and biochemistry and immunity and gynecology through the process. It was a torturous learning and loss-filled and persevering process.”
Giuliana Rancic
“Hopefully we can help people understand that there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Guiliana Rancic told People after her 2010 miscarriage. “It’s such a taboo subject, but it’s a very common problem.”
Arielle Charnas
Famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) blogger mom Arielle Charnas of Something Navy revealed in June 2020 that she suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
“I went through something a couple weeks ago that I didn’t share and it just sort of keeps coming whenever I get comments,” she said on her Instagram Story.
“It’s like all I think about is what I went through and I wish I could talk to some of you about it. So I’m just going to tell you what happened. So I was pregnant and I was expecting my third baby and things just went wrong and I ended up losing the pregnancy. So it’s been a really difficult time for me. Especially, after having two healthy pregnancies. This just really came out of nowhere and was the worst experience I’ve ever been through.”
Michelle Branch
Michelle Branch revealed in 2020 that she and husband Patrick Carney suffered a miscarriage. “And to further twist a dagger in my heart, I experienced my first miscarriage (ugh! Motherf—ker!),” she wrote on Instagram.
“But alas, between the crying and binge eating of Christmas cookies, I decided to put on lipstick and a dress. We drank champagne alllll day. Made an incredible meal and sang Christmas songs snuggled up by a roaring fire. 5 more days until 2021. I’m limping to the finish line.”
Scheana Shay
In 2020, Vanderpump Rules’ Scheana Shay spoke out on her podcast, Scheananigans with Scheana Shay, about her recent miscarriage.
“I have always been an open book and I’ve always told you everything going on in my life and so many of you have followed me on my fertility journey over the last year and a half and this is a part of it. It’s just a sad part,” she said.
“A few weeks ago, we found out that I was pregnant,” she continued. “My doctors said it would be close to impossible to get pregnant on my own… Although this one isn’t working out and we don’t know yet what’s exactly going to happen, I know that I was able to get pregnant on my own and that is a miracle,” Shay concluded on the podcast.
Lauren Burnham
Bachelor fans — plus compassionate humans everywhere — were saddened to learn in May 2020 that star couple Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham lost a pregnancy to miscarriage.
The pair announced the loss on their popular YouTube show: “This isn’t our typical positive vibes type of video,” Burnham began. She explained that she’d experienced a “missed miscarriage,” or embryonic death without expulsion of the embryo, and noted that she “was really excited to tell you guys that we were pregnant. I feel like this is the best way for us to tell the whole story.”
Jamie Otis
Married At First Sight star Jamie Otis welcomed her son Hayes Douglas via home birth in May 2020 with husband Doug Hehner— but she’d been pregnant with a boy before.
“Our first baby was a boy,” Otis told People shortly after Hayes’ birth. “But we lost him at 17 weeks.” She added that while of course her husband “loves our daughter… he’s wanted a baby boy so badly for so long. This is truly an answered prayer for us.”
Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny Frankel was surprised and excited to learn she was pregnant with her second child at the age of 41; sadly, she was unable to carry to full term. She wrote an article for Glamour in which she described her miscarriage.
“And then it happened. The next day it was warm out, 50 degrees, but you’d have thought it was negative 10, I was shivering so much. I took Bryn to the Central Park Zoo, and I was cold and tired, and felt terrible,” she wrote.
“Then, in the makeup chair for Bethenny Ever After, I started bleeding. Really bleeding. Jason picked me up, and we went to the doctor. In the exam room the doctor ran an ultrasound, looking for the heartbeat. Something was wrong. ‘I’m not finding it,’ he said. Jason said, ‘I don’t see it.’ And I’m like, ‘Is this a miscarriage?’ I didn’t know.”
“I got dressed, we met the doctor in his office, and I launched into it,” she continued. “‘Is it because I’m busy? My lifestyle? Is this my fault?’ I asked. ‘Absolutely not, absolutely not,’ he replied. ‘You’re 41. You had bleeding. There’s nothing you could have done.'”
Ali Fedotowsky-Manno
Bachelorette alum Ali Fedotowsky-Manno wrote on Instagram in July 2020 that she had experienced a recent pregnancy loss: “I passed the gestational sac — which was the size of a plum — in my bedroom. I was in complete shock when it happened. I sat and stared at it for hours — not able to fully comprehend what happened. And the utter exhaustion that took over my body in the few days after that was almost debilitating.”
It’s not the first time the reality star suffered a miscarriage. In 2016, Fedotowsky-Manno said on The Doctors that a pregnancy was confirmed through a blood test, but her HCG levels were so low that her doctor said the pregnancy would not last. “It’s hard for me to talk about because I know some people suffer miscarriages far along in their pregnancy,” she said.
Meghan McCain
In 2019, Meghan McCain wrote in an op-ed for New York Times that she miscarried shortly before having to participate in a photo shoot. “I am posed for the camera, looking stern and strong, representing my fellow conservative women across the country. But inside, I am dying. Inside, my baby is dying.” McCain added, “I loved my baby, and I always will.”
