Sharon Stone reveals she experienced nine miscarriages: ‘It is no small thing’

Sharon Stone revealed that she experienced nine miscarriages, calling it “no small thing.” She shared this personal and heartbreaking information in a comment to PEOPLE’s Instagram post featuring its interview with Peta Murgatroyd, who recently shared the details of a miscarriage she suffered while her husband, Maks Chmerkovskiy, was stranded in Ukraine.

“We, as females don’t have a forum to discuss the profundity of this loss,” Stone wrote in her comment. “I lost nine children by miscarriage. It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly with some kind of sense of failure. Instead of receiving the much needed compassion and empathy and healing which we so need.”

“Female health and wellness left to the care of the male ideology has become lax at best, ignorant in fact, and violently oppressive in effort,” Stone, who is the mother of three children by adoption, went on to say.

Stone’s words are even more powerful since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. With authority left to the states, there will inevitably be disparate standards of care and options for women across the country when it comes to reproductive health.

Related: Overturning Roe v. Wade is about so much more than abortion

At least 10% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage, but experts say that when considering all pregnancies, including chemical pregnancies, as many as one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. And the impact can be profound. A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women who have a miscarriage experience high levels of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. Nearly a third of them will deal with post-traumatic stress and 1 in 4 will deal with anxiety. Yet, despite the profound impact miscarriage has on women, many still suffer in silence and, in the U.S., few employers offer bereavement leave after a pregnancy loss.   

Recently, Murgatroyd opened up about the reasons she was sharing the details of her miscarriage now.  

“I honestly just got sick of hiding it,” she said. “I found it was harder to conceal this secret than just ‘say it how it was’ so to speak. It became harder for me to keep a happy face on, day after day. Social media became tiring and a thing that I used to love doing. The first time I let it out of my mouth to a colleague I felt strangely better, like a piece of shame had chipped away. So I found the more people I told, the better I felt. I came to realize that there is nothing shameful about it.”

In addition to talking about her miscarriage, Murgatroyd has also shared details about trying to have a second baby via in vitro fertilization. 

“I hope that by me sharing my journey with all of you it could help someone else going through the same situation.”

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