Following the heartbreaking news that Chrissy Teigen suffered a miscarriage following complications and blood clotting, former Olympian Shawn Johnson, who was open about her miscarriage experience in 2017, sent her support. In an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife.com while discussing her new partnership with Duracell, Shawn said it “broke my heart” to read the news of Chrissy and John Legend‘s loss. “No mother should ever have to go through that… it’s devastating and it’s really hard,” she explained. “I think the only way you can get through it is by mourning your baby and grieving your baby and acknowledging that no matter what, that baby is still part of your life and then asking for help from the community.”
Shawn, who is the mother to 11-month-old Drew, added that the “only way” she got through it was by “reading other mom’s stories and family stories.” “I didn’t feel alone. Truly just embracing the community around you is, I think, the best thing you can do to mourn that loss.”
Shawn Johnson shared her own experience with a miscarriage in 2017, when the topic was still considered too “taboo” to be discuss publicly. “The past 48 hours have been some of the happiest, scariest, and saddest times of my life,” the then-25-year-old explained in the caption of a YouTube video chronicling her loss. “My husband Andrew [East] and I found out that we were unexpectedly pregnant, only to find out hours later some tragic news. I have been crying more than I ever have, but am still optimistic for what is next.”
Andrew added, “Know you’re not the only one going through whatever you’re going through,” and Shawn shared similar sentiments on Instagram. “This is by far the hardest video we’ve ever posted but we felt as though it was a story that needed to be shared as so many struggle with the same thing,” she wrote at the time, and then wrote to her husband, “I love you more than anything in this world and I know you are going to make the greatest Daddy in the world someday. Thank you for being my rock through all of this.”
Shawn and Andrew welcomed their healthy and beautiful “rainbow baby,” a child born after a miscarriage, on October 29, 2019. Today, Shawn acknowledged that what she went through is “normal.” “I felt isolated and kind of just alone, and it wasn’t until I shared my story that I saw all these other women coming out of the woodworks. I think it should be normalized because us as women need a broader community of people to talk about it with.”
Stay tuned for the full podcast interview with Shawn Johnson East & Andrew East, out on Wednesday, Oct. 7th. Shawn and Andrew spoke to HL in partnership with Duracell, to help educate families, caregivers and Pediatric Health Professionals on updated child safety features and guidelines of the lithium coin battery.