Chrissy Teigen along with other celebs have taken to social media to defend Meghan Markle’s decision to go public with her miscarriage.
On Wednesday, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle revealed she had lost her second child in a tragic miscarriage this July. The incredibly heartfelt and honest opinion piece was published by The New York Times and titled, The Losses We Share. In her essay, the Duchess sheds light on what happened that day writing, “It was a July morning that began as ordinarily as any other day: Make breakfast. Feed the dogs. Take vitamins.” But quickly things changed as the Duchess felt a sharp cramp and instantly knew something was wrong, “I dropped to the floor with him (Archie) in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm” she wrote. “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”
The essay, even though incredibly well written and honest, still received some hate from people online. With many criticizing the former actress for going public with such a personal topic. One person tweeted, “i’m sorry for their loss but why do they need to tell the world EVERYTHING about their lives. I know – BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY ANY OTHER WAY THAN BEING IN THE SPOTLIGHT! ME ME ME ME!!!” However, the negative feedback did sit-well with one celebrity, in particular, Chrissy Teigen.
Chrissy Teigen felt a connection with Meghan’s grief because she too suffered a miscarriage this year while pregnant with her third child with her husband, John Legend. Like Meghan Markle, Teigen was very open and shared the devastating loss with her fans. In a series of now-famous images posted to Instagram, Teigen shared raw, private moments from the hospital. With tears running down her face, the black and white photographs were captioned, “We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before.” Teigen wrote, “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.”
Shortly after posting the series of photos, Teigen released an essay simply titled, “Hi.” which was published by Medium. Teigen opened up about the weeks leading up to the miscarriage and goes into raw detail about what happened at the hospital. She also describes how she and her family are coping with the loss and the outpouring of love (and some hate) they have received. In the essay, Teigen reveals that she knew she would lose her son, who she called Jack, so she asked Legend and her mother to take photos of the process, “I had asked my mom and John to take pictures, no matter how uncomfortable it was.” Teigen explains her reasoning, “But I knew I needed to know of this moment forever, the same way I needed to remember us kissing at the end of the aisle, the same way I needed to remember our tears of joy after Luna and Miles. And I absolutely knew I needed to share this story.” So she did.
Teigen explains that she suffered partial placenta abruption. Placental abruption is when the placenta partly or completely separates from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery. Placental abruption often happens suddenly and affects 1 in 100 women and is related to about 1 in 10 premature births.
It is hard to read Teigen’s essay without getting emotional because her pain is palpable, “I cried a little at first, then went into full-blown convulsions of snot and tears, my breath not able to catch up with my own incredibly deep sadness.” Similarly, you can feel Markle’s sadness as she writes, “Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few.”
Both Meghan Markle and Chrissy Teigen share in the idea of removing the stigma around discussing miscarriages. So when Twitter criticized Markle for her opinion piece, Teigen did not hold back and tweeted: “Award for today’s absolute piece of s–t goes to… Congratulations, piece of s–t.†The tweet was later deleted and Teigen explained, “Sorry forgot I’m trying to be nicer lol.â€
Other celebrities have also expressed their support for Markle as well. The Good Place’s, Jameela Jamil took to Twitter to write, “When you criticize Meghan for discussing miscarriage because it’s ‘too personal’ for her to share, you’re enabling the culture of silence around the issue that keeps so many people in a state of shame/guilt/loneliness/misinformation. People NEED to know they aren’t alone in this.”
Ming-Na Wen, the actress who voiced Disney’s Mulan, also tweeted, “When I had my miscarriage, I learned from my OBGYN that it occurs 1 in 4 pregnancies! THAT info astounded me. I asked, ‘Why isn’t it more common knowledge?’ ‘Very few want to talk about it.’ Thank you, Meghan Markle, for sharing. Sorry for your & Prince Harry’s loss.”
Like Wen and Teigen, other celebrities including Gabrielle Union and Sherri Shepherd, who have suffered a miscarriage took to social media to show their support for Markle. Responses have been mixed online. However, it appears as though lots of women who share in their grief also want to focus on removing the stigma. In response to Yvette Nicole Brown’s tweet supporting Markle, one woman responded: “Women need to speak up and not be ashamed. It’s sad that it’s such a taboo topic. I lost a baby at 21 weeks in 2004. I rarely talk about it.”
Although the topic may not be pleasant to talk about, it may just be what some families need to cope. Julie Lamppa, a certified nurse-midwife told Yahoo, “There is the false perception that pregnancy loss is uncommon because people don’t often talk about it. In my clinic, people are shocked to hear how frequent it is.†Often times, there may be a level of shame and embarrassment with having lost pregnancy, “Women or couples may hesitate to share a loss fearing judgment and blame,” says Lamppa. When celebrities share moments of grief and loss like this, it helps women know they are not alone, Lamppa explains, “Women often breathe a big sigh of relief when they share and learn there is nothing they could have done to prevent this.â€