Kate Beckinsale is opening up about her past pregnancy loss.
In an emotional Instagram message she shared on Friday, the actress sent her love and support to Chrissy Teigen, who recently announced that she and husband John Legend had lost their son.
"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," Beckinsale, 47, wrote.
"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 actress — who shares 21-year-old daughter Lily Mo with ex Martin Sheen — continued. "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."
Beckinsale went on to describe the feeling of loss as "the loneliest, most soul destroying period of time."
"Your milk comes in, with no one to feed," she explained, noting that the experience can be particular tough "if you are not in the position of having an emotionally connected, supportive partner like Chrissy has."
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"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," she wrote. "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."
Continuing, she added, "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."
Alongside her message of support, Beckinsale also shared a handwritten reflection on pregnancy loss.
"Some babies are born to be angels and given Heaven instead. They are carried inside the hearts of broken-hearted parents and their families forever; learning to fly with wings in paradise, where nothing can hurt them, instead of learning to walk on Earth," read the message, shared by the Instagram account All on the Board. "We grieve for them and what they might have been asking why we couldn't be together."
The Cravings cookbook author had previously been placed on bed rest and then hospitalized due to excessive bleeding from her placenta. After having underwent several blood transfusions, she said in her post that "it just wasn't enough."
"Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever," added Teigen, who shares daughter Luna Simone, 4, and son Miles Theodore, 2, with Legend.
"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."
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