When Meghan Markle shared her miscarriage experience with the world through an essay in the New York Times , she cemented a new era for women, one where we can talk about our bodies and our grief.

Markle’s candour is a contrast to a statement from Buckingham Palace calling the pregnancy loss “a deeply personal matter which we would not comment on”. The idea that miscarriages are so personal that they cannot be talked about is outdated. They must be talked about and mourned as Markle and other show us.

The Duchess is not the only celebrity to speak up about miscarriage. Public figures are changing the way we view pregnancy loss as a private matter.


Like Markle, Chrissy Teigen spoke publicly about her pregnancy loss. Unlike Markle, she did not wait months to tell her story. Teigen told hers in real time, live-tweeting the most painful day of her life and receiving both vitriol and praise for her public display of grief.

Actress Kate Beckinsale , influencers Arielle Charnas and Hilaria Baldwin , the Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch , musician Alanis Morisette , and former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky-Manno are all among the high profile parents who have spoken publicly about miscarriage recently.

Miscarriage isn’t a secret and it’s not uncommon. And we’re so glad to be living in an era where it is talked about.

Here are the stories of 10 celebrities who have been open about miscarriage and pregnancy loss experiences:

James and Kimberly Van Der Beek are open about their losses

James Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly have also been very open about their miscarriages.

In 2018 James wrote on Instagram: “‘Mis-carriage,’ in an insidious way, suggests fault for the mother – as if she dropped something, or failed to ‘carry’…”From what I’ve learned, in all but the most obvious, extreme cases, it has nothing to do with anything the mother did or didn’t do.”

In 2019, the couple suffered another loss and shared how they were “Wrecked. Devastated. In shock.” In 2020, James honoured the one year anniversary of that loss by sharing with the world how he explained miscarriage to his children.

Alanis Morrisette had ”a bunch of miscarriages​.”

Speaking on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert , Morissette addressed the age gap between her children (9-year-old son Ever, 3-year-old daughter Onyx and 1-year-old old baby boy Winter), and how it may not seem ideal, explaining she had “a bunch of miscarriages.”

Ali Fedotowsky-Manno: I didn’t feel ‘I deserved any sort of support after’ miscarriage

In July, Bachelorette-turned-blogger Fedotowsky-Manno she revealed she’d had a miscarriage and in a recent interview with People she explained that she wasn’t sure at first how or when to share that news.

“I think a lot of the reasons women don’t share about miscarriages is because there is shame involved,” she explains. “I always thought the shame was because your body couldn’t carry a baby in that moment…But for me, where the shame came was not feeling that I deserved any sort of support after—feeling that what I went through wasn’t the same as someone who goes through it when they’d been trying for years or they were 20 weeks pregnant.”

She continues: “I have two beautiful children. So my experience didn’t begin to compare to those, so I felt shame in being supported.”

Chrissy Teigen opened up to the world

When Teigen and her husband John Legend lost their third child, Jack, about halfway through Teigen’s pregnancy, many internet commenters were shocked that Teigen chose to share photos of the event on Instagram. But in a powerful essay for Medium, Teigen made it clear that she doesn’t care what people think about those pictures. She posted them for herself and for mamas who’ve lived it.

“I cannot express how little I care that you hate the photos. How little I care that it’s something you wouldn’t have done. I lived it, I chose to do it, and more than anything, these photos aren’t for anyone but the people who have lived this or are curious enough to wonder what something like this is like. These photos are only for the people who need them. The thoughts of others do not matter to me.”

Kate Beckinsale broke her silence

After Teigen’s loss, Kate Beckinsale shared her own story of pregnancy loss, one that she had never previously revealed to the media.

“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.”

Hilaria Baldwin doesn’t want women to blame themselves

Baldwin shared her miscarriage story online, much like Teigen did. She later told Motherly: “Too often women look at ourselves and point blame, we think, ‘Well, we must have done something.’ Let me tell you something from having a miscarriage: The first thing that all doctors tell you is, ‘I want you to know that you didn’t do anything wrong.'”

Melissa Rauch made her own PSA

In 2017, after opening up about her own experience with miscarriage , Rauch was moved by the stories others came to her with and motivated to spread awareness, which she did through this PSA.

“It was from this beautiful outpouring of openness, candor and courage offered by all of these kindred spirits that I began to heal a part of me that I didn’t know was still in need of repair,” Rauch said in an essay for Glamour. “What became abundantly clear from the massive cross section of women out there who have experienced this kind of personal tragedy is the importance of shedding light on this issue that is traditionally stranded in the shadows.”

Arielle Charnas of Something Navy on recovering from an ectopic pregnancy

In June of 2020, Arielle Charnas of Something Navy used Instagram Stories to announce her pregnancy loss this week, revealing how she recently suffered an ectopic pregnancy.

“I went through something a couple of weeks ago that I didn’t share,” she told her 1.3 million followers. “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 very difficult time for me, especially after having two healthy pregnancies this really just came out of nowhere and was the worst experience I have ever lived through. I am definitely going through an emotional roller abut I truly believe in everything happening for a reason

“I was in the hospital, that’s why I was away from the kids for a week, but I’m okay.”

Ectopic pregnancies are dangerous to a mother, and can be fatal. They occur when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside of the uterus. The pregnancy can’t continue this way.

Meghan Markle pens an essay that changes the way we talk about miscarriage

In a piece for the New York Times , she recalls the exact moment she knew her pregnancy was ending.

“After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right,” she writes.

“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”

Thank you, Meghan.