I Need to Talk About My Miscarriage. That is the title of the essay actress Ashley Williams penned for Human Development Project on September 9.
The powerful piece begins with an eight-weeks pregnant Williams grocery shopping at Whole Foods her 23-month-old son, Gus.
“A heavy, dark and slow stream of blood made its way down my left inner thigh. Without thinking, I swiped it. My fingertips came up wet,” The Jim Gaffigan Show star wrote. “I wiped my hand on my jean shorts, noticing they were already soaked through with blood. I stopped to text my husband: ‘I think you need to come home from work.’”
Williams, 37, who is married to producer Neal Dodson, was shocked to discover that one in four women her age will lose a baby. “If 25 percent of my peers are currently experiencing miscarriages right alongside me, why wasn’t I prepared?” asked the How I Met Your Mother alum. “Why don’t we talk about it? Why was I feeling embarrassed, broken, like a walking wound?”
The New Yorker continued: “My surprise increased in the days that followed when I reached out to close friends and found out that most had miscarried at last once. My question to each friend: Did you talk about it? No. They they answered, and sighed right alongside me.”
Williams, who is fellow actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s younger sister, said she opened up about her loss in hopes of normalizing miscarriages. “Maybe tell your Starbucks barista that you need an extra shot because you just had a miscarriage. Tell someone to carry your bags for you, not because you’re weak, but because you had recently had a miscarriage, and you deserve a break,” she wrote.
“You are not broken. You did nothing wrong. You are strong, you are brave, and there is hope. I was right there next to you at Whole Foods, bleeding out my shorts. Now I’m well. I’m a survivor. Healed, I will try again.”
