Explaining herself. Shawn Johnson and her husband, Andrew East, celebrated when they found out that their baby-to-be doesn’t have any genetic anomalies— but the couple didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“I know a lot of people have seen our videos and misunderstood our intention behind it,” the Olympian gymnast, 27, told Us Weekly exclusively on Wednesday, July 31, while promoting Philips Avent Brand. “All I can say is, coming off of a miscarriage [and] having pretty much no knowledge of how this whole thing works … we celebrated [the genetic testing results] because to us, it meant our child had a greater chance of making it into our arms. I know the misunderstanding has been we celebrated that our child didn’t have a genetic anomaly and that was not it.”
The Dancing With the Stars season 8 winner added, “We are the type of people who would love our child the same no matter what, no matter what God hands us. But for us, it was just this desperate fear of, we don’t want to lose another child. … So I never meant to offend anyone. I’m just a new mom that is worried for my child.”
She and the professional football player, also 27, announced in April that they have a baby on the way after suffering a miscarriage in 2017.
Three months after their announcement, the couple shared an emotional video about Johnson’s pregnancy complications. Not only did the Winning Balance author have a two-vessel umbilical cord, but there was a lot of fluid in her fetus’ kidneys. These “two big red flags” could signify Down Syndrome or a chromosomal anomaly, as well as increase “the risk of stillbirth and the baby not making it to term,” the pregnant star explained at the time.
She told Us on Wednesday that their little one is all “good” now. “We still have a two-vessel cord, so I still go in every four weeks to get monitored to make sure the baby’s growing and getting enough oxygen, and their heart’s beating, and their brain is working and everything is good,” the Iowa native said. “So far, knock on wood, everything’s been good. We haven’t crossed the finish line yet, but one day at a time.”
Johnson and the Washington Redskins player tied the knot in Nashville in 2016.
With reporting by Mandie DeCamp
