Broadway star Laura Benanti has revealed on social media that she suffered a miscarriage during a recent performance.
The 43-year-old Tony-winning actress and singer shared a photo taken on The Broadway Cruise voyage on April 5 - a cruise ship that took tourists from New York to Bermuda.
In the snapshot, she can be seen performing in front of a crowd of passengers on an open-air stage on the ship's deck. She heartbreakingly wrote in the caption that while performing for 2000 people, she experienced a pregnancy loss.
Benanti - who is one of ten musical theater stars who joined the March 31 to April 5 round-trip voyage - explained that she "knew it was happening" before her performance.
Read Benanti's heartbreaking post below:"It started slowly the night before," she penned in her Instagram post. "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," she continued.
The Gossip Girl reboot actress expressed gratitude to the audience for "lifting me out of my grief" and to her band and tour crew for working "so hard" to make her as comfortable as possible.
She then went on to praise those around her, especially her mother- and father-in-law, who "shielded" her daughter Ella from the "reality" of the experience and "[gave] her the time of her life while 'Mama’s back hurt.'"
"Thank you to that little soul for choosing me as your home, even for a short time," the Life & Beth actress emotionally added.
The No Hard Feelings star is married to Patrick Brown, with whom she shares two daughters, Ella, six, and Louisa, nine months. The couple welcomed their youngest daughter in July via a surrogate.
"Patrick and I 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," she said of her family.
She disclosed that she and her husband "are heartbroken" but reminded families who have also experienced a pregnancy loss that they are "not alone".
"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 me as well," she concluded.
Benanti received support from fellow celebrities and followers in the comments section of her heartbreaking post. Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth wrote: "Laura. I’m so sorry. Everyone who knows you loves you. You’re an angel on this earth. You are the toughest person I know. Sending God's love to your fam."
Fellow theater actress Lindsay Heather Pearce shared: "You and yours are extraordinary. Love to you, warmth to you, and comfort in these days to come."
A third user commented: "Thank you SO much for sharing this story, Laura. Every time a woman does, I feel a little less alone in the world. I love you so so so much."
The She Loves Me star spoke about a previous miscarriage during an interview with People magazine in 2020. At the time, she said: "It started to make me feel angry that there's some deep-seated misogyny in our culture where women are not allowed to mourn the loss of their pregnancy.
"I felt like the only thing that would make me feel a tiny bit less crazy about losing my pregnancy was feeling like perhaps I could help other women not feel alone because I felt so alone," she added.