Kate Beckinsale has jumped to the defense of model Chrissy Teigen after she was criticized by some for uploading pictures of her recent miscarriage to social media.
In a lengthy post on her own Instagram account, the actress said that she felt privileged to share in Teigen's profound loss, and argued that Chrissy's candidness will potentially open up a conversation in our culture around prenatal health.
Beckinsale wrote:
"I’ve noticed people criticizing @chrissyteigen for sharing deeply intimate photos of the loss of her baby. As if there’s some protocol during [the] soul-scouring calamity that, if not observed, emboldens people who do not know her or her family to say how she should be handling the unimaginable."
The actress opened up about how she herself lost a baby after 20 weeks of gestation, and how she was emotionally devastated by the experience.
"Years ago, I lost a baby at 20 weeks. I had managed to keep my pregnancy quiet and I absolutely collapsed inside and no one would have known," the 47-year-old actress wrote.
"There is grief, shame and shock so often that come with an experience like this, plus the heartbreak of your body continuing, after the loss, to act as if it had a child to nurture," she added.
Beckinsale then explained: "Your milk comes in, with no one to feed. It can be the loneliest, most soul destroying period of time, particularly if you are not in the position of having an emotionally connected, supportive partner like Chrissy has."
She continued:
"I think it’s an honor to be allowed into another [person's] grief, especially with a subject like this which so often puts a woman into that hall of mirrors state of life continuing as if the world hasn’t, for you, come to a bloody and terrible halt."
She added:
"Sending so much love to the Legend family, but also so much to the women and couples who have kept it quiet and suffered. but also so much to the women and couples who have kept it quiet and suffered. I know there are so many. [sic]"
Beckinsale's followers were touched by her support, and a great many took to the comments to share their own experiences too:
Teigen, who had been complaining of bleeding in the days prior to the loss of her child, posted the news of the miscarriage in statements made on her Instagram and Twitter accounts, writing:
"We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we've never felt before. 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.
She added:
If you are struggling with any of the issues discussed in this article, in the United Kingdom miscarriageassociation.org.uk provides support services including a helpline and online live chat. In the United States, womenshealth.gov provides advice on coping with pregnancy loss."We never decide on our babies' names until the last possible moment after they're born, just before we leave the hospital. But we, for some reason, had started to call this little guy in my belly Jack. So he will always be Jack to us. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever."
"To our Jack - I'm so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn't give you the home you needed to survive. We will always love you."