In the wake of socialite Chrissy Teigen announcing she had a miscarriage, some on social media condemned the celebrity for the gut-wrenching photos she posted of herself in her Instagram post revealing the tragic news.
Allie Stuckey, a conservative and pro-life commentator, called out “supposedly pro-life people using a woman’s late-stage miscarriage to criticize her or make political points.”
“Posting photos of the tragedy is very common [and] normal,” Stuckey wrote. “Bite your tongue, show compassion, extend love and grace, and pray for them.”
Teigen broke her silence Tuesday, when she published a lengthy Medium post reflecting on the loss of their third child, whom she and husband John Legend had named Jack.
In addition to thanking people for their prayers and well-wishes, the celebrity author also opened up about her decision to ask Legend to take photos, something she said her husband “hated.”
“I had asked my mom and John to take pictures, no matter how uncomfortable it was,” she wrote. “I explained to a very hesitant John that I needed them, and that I did NOT want to have to ever ask. That he just had to do it. He hated it. I could tell.”
“It didn’t make sense to him at the time,” Teigen continued. “But I knew I needed to know of this moment forever, the same way I needed to remember us kissing at the end of the aisle, the same way I needed to remember our tears of joy after Luna and Miles. And I absolutely knew I needed to share this story.”
She ultimately made it clear the photos were for her, her family, and those who experience similar tragedies.
“I cannot express how little I care that you hate the photos,” she wrote bluntly. “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.”
In early October, Teigen announced her miscarriage, saying she and her husband were “shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before.”
“We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags of blood transfusions,” she wrote at the time. “It just wasn’t enough.”