Kate Beckinsale has signed up as an ambassador for leading baby loss and grief support charity The Mariposa Trust, after publicly revealing her own experience.
At the start of the month, the British actress, 47, took to Instagram to speak out about her own pain, in light of Chrissy Teigen’s recent tragedy.
Hollywood screen star Kate will not join the likes of Jools Oliver, Kym Marsh, Nigella Lawson, Baroness Floella Benjamin, and Sally Phillips in helping to raise the profile pf the charity’s work in supporting anyone affected by baby loss.
Ambassador: Kate Beckinsale has signed up as an ambassador for leading baby loss and grief support charity The Mariposa Trust, after publicly revealing her own experience
In making the announcement, which coincides with Baby Loss Awareness Week, founder and CEO Zoe Clark-Coates said in a statement: ‘Baby loss is a huge issue, not only in the UK, but globally with an estimated 38,000,000 losses each year.
‘Sadly, many of these people have little or no access to support, and often suffer in silence, feeling isolated and alone.
‘The Mariposa Trust… is dedicated to providing innovative support options, as well as campaigning for better support and much more, and we are honoured that Kate has chosen to become part of our charity family and work with us to raise awareness of this subject.’
Heartbreaking: At the start of the month, the British actress, 47, took to Instagram to speak out about her own pain, in light of Chrissy Teigen’s recent tragedy
At the start of October, Kate revealed that she secretly suffered the heartbreaking loss of a baby 20 weeks into her pregnancy.
Taking to Instagram, the actress spoke out in defence of Chrissy and her husband John Legend’s choice to share the news publicly, as she spoke candidly about how she was forced to deal with her own pain privately.
Sharing an inspirational quote, Kate shared: ‘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.’
She started her post defending Chrissy, writing: ‘I’ve noticed people criticizing @chrissyteigen for sharing deeply intimate photos of the loss of her baby.
Inspirational: The British actress took to Instagram on Friday to share an inspirational quote
Secret agony: Kate confessed, ‘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’
‘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.
‘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.
‘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. Your milk comes in, with no one to feed.
‘It can be the loneliest, most soul destroying period of time, particularly if you are not in the position of having an emotionally connected, supportive partner like Chrissy has.
Sad: Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend mourned the loss of their child in the hospital, sharing snaps of their fleeting time with their offspring on social media
‘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.
‘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.
Concluding her post, Kate – who shares 21-year-old daughter Lily with ex-husband Michael Sheen – thanked Chrissy for publicly sharing her experience.
She penned: ‘Thank you @chrissyteigen for making sure it is abundantly clear how devastating this is, and how life changing it can be without support.
Family: British star Kate shares 21-year-old daughter Lily with her ex-husband Michael Sheen
‘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.’
The image shared by Kate, whose divorce from Len Wiseman was finalised in November 2019, was of a noticeboard, which included comforting words surrounding the loss of a child.
It read: ‘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…
‘Leaving to fly with wings in paradise, where nothing can hurt them, instead of learning to walk on Earth… We grieve for them and what they might have been, asking why we couldn’t be together.’
Devastating: Meanwhile, Chrissy’s mother Vilailuck has shared a heart-wrenching video of herself crying over the loss of her grandson Jack, before giving him a kiss
Heart-wrenching: She clasps her hands together and bows her head down in a prayerful gesture
Meanwhile, Chrissy’s mother Vilailuck has shared a heart-wrenching video of herself crying over the loss of her grandson Jack, before giving the baby a tender kiss.
Chrissy, 34, announced on Wednesday she had tragically lost her third child around halfway into her pregnancy, days after she was admitted to the hospital with severe bleeding.
On Thursday, Vilailuck, who also goes by the name of Pepper, shared several photographs of herself cradling the baby inside the hospital.
She captioned the devastating Instagram post: ‘My heart aches love you so much baby Jack.’
Painful: The hospital worker presented the child to an emotional Vilailuck
Emotional: Vilailuck began crying not long after seeing the baby
Tragedy: The next two photos show Vilailuck holding the swaddled-up child in her arms – the family have been sharing their experience in a bid to help others
The family have bravely taken the decision to document and share their tragic loss in a bid to help anyone else going through the same thing.
The posts begin with a video of a hospital worker presenting Jack to Vilailuck, who soon begins to cry.
‘You can touch him if you want,’ the employee informs Vilailuck.
An emotional Vilailuck gently places her hand upon the child, before bending down to give him a kiss.
She clasps her hands together and bows her head down in a prayerful gesture.The next two photos show Vilailuck holding the swaddled-up child in her arms.
Grieving: Teigen shed tears as she sat on the hospital bed in a bravely honest post which she shared with her fans
Chrissy had been hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles dasy before, after enduring a month of bleeding due to having a weak placenta and had been at the hospital since.
She revealed she was on ‘serious bed rest’ due to the bleeding and ‘about halfway through her pregnancy’, which is around 20-24 weeks. A stillbirth is when a baby is born dead at 24 weeks or later.
Chrissy had previously explained: ‘I’m about halfway through pregnancy and the blood has been going on for about a month, maybe a little bit less than a month.
‘We’re talking about more than your period girls, it’s definitely not spotting. A lot of people spot but it’s usually fine. Mine was a lot,’ she explained.
Teigen had already been on strict bed rest earlier this month but explained she was admitted to the hospital after her bleeding had worsened.
‘Everytime I go to the bathroom it would be blood, and honestly just laying there there would be blood.’
In an update on Monday, Chrissy said she and the baby were ‘completely fine.’
‘Hello from hospital. about to have my second blood transfusion which truly, truly, truly sounds more dramatic than it is. It’s an IV, but instead of fluids, the blood of some kind human being out there,’ she posted.
‘Baby and I are completely fine, just missing the little things like walking…cooking…playing with the other buttbutts.’
Chrissy made the heartbreaking announcement she had lost her child at the end of September, where she shared several devastating photos of herself in the aftermath.
‘We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before,’ Chrissy posted on Instagram.
‘We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough.’
The couple typically don’t name their children until after birth, but Chrissy said they had already started referring to him as Jack.
‘We never decide on our babies’ names until the last possible moment after they’re born, just before we leave the hospital,’ she explained.
‘But we, for some reason, had started to call this little guy in my belly Jack. So he will always be Jack to us. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever.’
There for each other: The couple held hands as Teigen laid in the hospital bed
Grieve: Chrissy said, ‘Everyday can’t be full of sunshine. On this darkest of days, we will grieve, we will cry our eyes out. But we will hug and love each other harder and get through it’
Disbelief: Shortly after uploading her undeniably sad news to Instagram, Chrissy took to her Twitter page to further express her shock
‘To our Jack – 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.
‘Thank you to everyone who has been sending us positive energy, thoughts and prayers. We feel all of your love and truly appreciate you.
‘We are so grateful for the life we have, for our wonderful babies Luna and Miles, for all the amazing things we’ve been able to experience.
‘But everyday can’t be full of sunshine. On this darkest of days, we will grieve, we will cry our eyes out. But we will hug and love each other harder and get through it.’
Chrissy and her husband John, who share daughter Luna, four, and son Miles, two, announced in the music video Wild they were expecting their third child together.
For help and support with related issues, visit The International Stillbirth Alliance at www.stillbirthalliance.org or stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage charity Tommy’s at www.tommys.org.
‘We love you, Jack’: John also took to Twitter to share Chrissy’s post, while writing: ‘We love you, Jack’ alongside five black hearts
Her loves: Chrissy is pictured with her daughter Luna, four, and son Miles, two