It was just a couple months ago when James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, joyfully announced their pregnancy live on Dancing With the Stars. It was such an incredible moment. The couple shared the happy news that their family was growing by allowing cameras into the doctor's office with them to listen to their baby's heartbeat along with America. It was also educational, too, because the couple also shared their history with miscarriage.
James delved into the couple’s past pregnancy troubles in a prerecorded segment. “We’ve had five kids and three miscarriages,” he said, speaking to his dance partner, Emma Slater. “Miscarriage is something that people don’t really talk about, and we wanted to recognize that it happens to people." He continued, "We wanted to destigmatize that as much as we possibly could."
The couple is doing that once more by sharing their latest devastating loss with audiences. It's an awful, painful moment for their family. Still, they're using it to open up the conversation about this certain kind of loss.
James Van Der Beek announced during the semifinals of Dancing With the Stars on Monday that his wife, Kimberly, recently suffered yet another miscarriage. The had only recently revealed the news that his family was expecting their sixth baby during a previous episode of the show. They even allowed cameras to join them for an ultrasound so that America could join in hearing their baby's heartbeat.
On Monday evening's show, James made a devastating announcement. Before he and his dance partner performed their second dance routine, he spoke to the camera. “We lost the baby,” he said.
It was an agonizing moment, and you could tell just how difficult it truly was for the actor. “The little soul that we had expected to welcome in to the family took a shortcut to whatever lies beyond. You never know why these things happen, that’s what I’ve been telling my kids," he shared.
He continued: "All you know it brings you closer together. It breaks you open, it opens up your heart … it makes you more human. I really didn’t think I’d be dancing tonight, but Kimberly from our hospital bed said to me, ‘I’m not done watching you dance.’ Kimberly, I love you. We are dancing to ‘Take Me to Church,’ which is all about human convention that’s so strong, it’s out of control, it’s scary, it rocks your soul.”
After James' dance, the judges were emotional. “I don’t know how you got through that just now,” said judge Carrie Ann Inaba. “I feel silly talking about your posture, but what I really do appreciate is in the midst of all that, the human tragedy you went through, you gave great posture!” It was an incredibly moving moment.
It was just a month ago that the couple brought cameras along to the doctor's office for their ultrasound appointment. “We decided to put ourselves out there – not knowing what we’d find – in an effort to chip away at any senseless stigma around this experience and to encourage people who might be going through it to open themselves up to love & support from friends and family when they need it most. Happily, for us – this time- we walked out with tears of joy,” James said on Instagram of the moment.
It seemed extremely important to the couple to help break down those stigmas surrounding miscarriage. Because it's one of those challenging moments that typically happen behind closed doors, most people don't speak about it, and Kimberly and James wanted to change that.
Of course, they hoped they wouldn't get the opportunity to talk about their devastation yet again. After suffering yet another loss, though, that's exactly what they did. James was open, vulnerable, and honest, sharing his pain on the show.
“Wrecked. Devastated. In shock. That’s how we’re feeling right now after the soul we thought were going to welcome into our family in April… has taken a short cut to whatever lies beyond this life. We’ve been through this before, but never this late in the pregnancy, and never accompanied by such a scary, horrific threat to @vanderkimberly and her well-being,” he wrote.
Now that the couple has shared their latest loss and, again, opened up discussions about miscarriage, we hope they can begin to heal. It's a terrible tragedy, but they have been so open that it's absolutely going to help change the way we talk about miscarriage in the future. We're sending strength and gratitude to the Van Der Beeks at this difficult time.
