Kate Beckinsale shares her own pregnancy loss story in support of Chrissy Teigen

Warning: the following may be triggering for some readers as it discusses pregnancy loss, grief and trauma.Earlier this week, Chrissy Teigen used her Instagram platform to talk about a subject that so many women and their partners suffer through in silence: the loss of a fetus that they had planned for and intended to carry to term. Teigen and husband John Legend had announced at the end of the summer that they were expecting their third child but lost the pregnancy this week, sharing the heartbreaking news in a brave and uniquely open Instagram post. Disturbingly, Teigen has come under fire for candidly discussing what she went through with her social media followers. Her post has also been defended by many—among them, Kate Beckinsale.The actor shared her own Instagram photo along with a lengthy account of her personal experience with losing a pregnancy. “I’ve noticed people criticizing [Chrissy Teigen] for sharing deeply intimate photos of the loss of her baby,” she wrote. “As if there’s some protocol during 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.”

 

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I’ve noticed people criticizing @chrissyteigen for sharing deeply intimate photos of the loss of her baby. As if there’s some protocol during 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. 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. 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. 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. I think it’s an honour to be allowed into another persons 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. Sending so much love to the Legend family, but also so much to the women and couples who have kept it quiet and suffered. I know there are so many. Thank you @chrissyteigen for making sure it is abundantly clear how devastating this is, and how life changing it can be without support. Let’s let the grieving decide what’s right for them. Send support or keep quiet . This is a really hard time to bear .Blessings and hugs to all x

A post shared by Kate Beckinsale (@katebeckinsale) on Oct 2, 2020 at 4:16am PDT

“Years ago,” she continued, “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. 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. 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.”Too often, a miscarriage or loss of pregnancy is something women go through in a disconnected, solitary way. As the negative and critical reactions to Teigen’s post have shown, a segment of society believes that women should remain silent about this particularly painful brand of loss and act as though they hadn’t formed any kind of emotional attachment to the fetus growing inside them. In short, they should hide their grief at any cost. Beckinsale wholeheartedly disagrees, writing that we are privileged to have women like Teigen set an example by demonstrating a different way to navigate this kind of loss.[video_embed id='2047475']RELATED: Chrissy Teigen shares devastating news of her pregnancy loss [/video_embed]“I think it’s an honour to be allowed into another person’s grief,” she wrote. “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. Thank you [Chrissy Teigen],” she added, “for making sure it is abundantly clear how devastating this is, and how life changing it can be without support. Let’s let the grieving decide what’s right for them.”Beckinsale ended her post with some sage advice for the social media haters and trolls: “Send support or keep quiet.”[video_embed id='1607372']BEFORE YOU GO: New book opens up the dialogue on infertility and pregnancy loss [/video_embed]