Waiting three months to announce your pregnancy, not picking out baby clothes until seeing the first sonogram, hiding the fact that you are trying to conceive — these are all coping mechanisms (or superstitions) we use to try to protect ourselves from the heartbreak of pregnancy loss. While it’s true that most miscarriages happen during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, it’s not true that doing any of these things will actually make a miscarriage easier to bear. In fact, hiding pregnancy loss and infertility struggles can actually make you feel more isolated and alone. And Kylie Kelce wants to change that. The pregnant mom opened up about this sensitive topic, which more than 30 percent of women go through, and we love her raw vulnerability.
In her Jan. 16 episode of the Wave Original podcast Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce, the mom of three interviewed sports broadcaster Erin Andrews about her 9-year fertility journey that included IVF, freezing embryos, and a cervical cancer diagnosis before she welcomed a son via surrogate in 2023.
“It sucked,” Andrews said about her fertility journey. “It sucked. And for so long. It was crazy because I would be so quiet about it. … I was so embarrassed, and I think so many women are.”
“I always say to people, even if your friends have never gone through IVF, surrogacy, or adoption, just talk to them. Because you can’t keep all this stuff in and sometimes it’s tough for your partner to relate,” she said, adding, “The day I went public with how much it sucked and that we weren’t having success, so many people reached out to us and were like, ‘Oh my god we’ve gone through this too.’ So, it was kind of like therapy.”
“It is strange that when you start to discuss the different aspects of trying to build a family, loss, IVF, infertility to any degree, that people start coming out of the woodwork to be like, ‘that happened to us,’” Kylie, who is expecting her fourth daughter with husband Jason Kelce, said. She shared that multiple people told her about their pregnancy losses after she experienced a miscarriage before her eldest daughter Wyatt, 5, was born. (She is also mom to daughters Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 21 months.)
“It’s one of those things that makes you so sad because obviously it’s not necessarily a club you want to be a part of,” Kelce said, “but then you realize how many people have experienced that and how many people are sitting in silence with it, and it just sort of almost stings a little to realize that we’re all carrying this degree of trauma.”
“Not having a positive experience and then just not talking about it, as if it’s something that we should be ashamed of, that doesn’t need to be talked about, that’s too personal to talk about,” she continued, “but if we’re all experiencing it, is it really that personal?”
She added that infertility “can happen to anyone.”
People felt seen in the comments. One person wrote, “Loved this ep! Thank you eternally for speaking about pregnancy loss. Sounds so cliche, but together we can end the stigma. That’s the LAST thing we should be walking thru in secrecy ❤”
“Kylie, I love your podcast and Erin Andrews is just best. Her willingness to speak out is so important. Thank you for your platform for these incredible women including you!” someone else wrote.
In July, Kylie revealed she had a miscarriage before Wyatt when slamming pregnancy rumors. “I have kept my mouth shut on this for quite some time now, and my lack of filter’s kicking in,” she said on TikTok. “I have had a number of articles written about me since the middle of last football season stating that I am pregnant.”
She was not pregnant at the time and added, “I cannot stand people writing such insensitive articles about such a sensitive topic. Really lights my fire.” Kylie revealed that she found out she was having a miscarriage when she went to an ultrasound and there “was no heartbeat.” A few days later, she had a D&C procedure to remove tissues from inside the uterus.
“I do not take getting pregnant or trying to get pregnant lightly,” Kylie said, adding, “We need to just be in agreement that this is not a topic that anyone needs to be first on reporting. Let the parents say it when they’re good and ready.”
So as a recap, it’s OK to speak out about your own infertility and pregnancy loss (because so many women can relate!), but it’s never OK to speculate on someone’s reproductive choices or pregnancy journeys. It’s common sense, people!
These other famous parents have been open about suffering miscarriages.
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