Chrissy Teigen reflects on ‘defining moment’ with a stranger after pregnancy loss

‘There’s so many women that don’t get this kind of attention because you just don’t know that it happened to them,’ Teigen says

Chrissy Teigen has opened up about why a stranger’s sweet gesture after her pregnancy loss felt like a “defining moment”.

The cookbook author, who shared in September 2020 that she and her husband John Legend had lost their unborn son Jack at 20 weeks of pregnancy, reflected on the impact of the stranger’s kindness during an interview with Today’s Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer.

“There was one moment that really struck me, and that was being at the grocery store and somebody just quietly laying flowers in my cart,” she recalled. “And then I realised that there’s so many women that don’t get this kind of attention because you just don’t know that it happened to them.”

According to Teigen, the moment was a “defining” one because it was when she realised that she could help others by being open about her own experience having a miscarriage.

“They’re living through this privately and quietly, and it just was a big moment for me where I realised that I could be this person that people could see and look up to as somebody that had a platform, where their stories were going to be recognised. For me, that was a very defining moment,” she said.

After revealing on Instagram that they had lost their third child, where Teigen shared unfiltered photos from the hospital, the Cravings author also reflected on her grief in an essay published in October.

In the essay, Teigen also addressed her and Legend’s decision to share photos of them holding their late son, writing at the time: “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.”

Reflecting on the decision to be so honest about their loss, Teigen told the Today hosts that the period in time feels like a “blur” and that the way they shared the news of the miscarriage was “super hard,” but that she “knew it would help a lot of people”.

“It’s like being on a roller coaster and holding your breath and then not really remembering it at the end,” she said. “I just know that the way we shared it was super hard, and it was super hard for John. But for some reason, I knew that it would help a lot of people.”

Teigen has also announced a partnership with the infertility support organisation Fertility Out Loud, with the goal of helping other families who are trying to have children.

“There’s so many different ways to make your dream happen now,” she told the outlet. “There’s a way to have that beautiful child whether it’s your own or whether you adopt. I think the more we share our stories, the more people will realise that they connect with one of those stories…  There’s something so beautiful about that.”

The 35-year-old recently opened up about struggling to come to terms with the understanding she will never be pregnant again, with the mother-of-two telling People: “Coming to terms with not being able to carry again is still really difficult for me because I feel so healthy. I’m like, why?’

“But then I think about it as my uterus is just not cooperating with me - and it’s not a failure.”