Myleene Klass says miscarriage isn’t a 'dark secret' as she becomes MBE
Myleene Klass has spoken out against the stigma surrounding miscarriage as she has been recognised as a "figurehead to help other women who have experienced baby loss" in this year's New Year Honours.
The musician and TV presenter has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to women’s health, miscarriage awareness and to charity. She is an ambassador for pregnancy and baby loss charity Tommy’s and Save the Children.
Speaking to the BBC, Klass, 46, said: "I feel proud knowing that I’ve used my platform not to stand idly but to do something positive.
"A miscarriage is not a dark secret that women have to hide away and I won’t stop campaigning until every woman and family has the support they need."
Klass, who shares two children with her ex-husband Graham Quinn and one child with fiancé Simon Motson, previously suffered four miscarriages. In 2021, she released a documentary titled Myleene Klass: Miscarriage and Me to talk about her experiences.
The documentary was nominated for a BAFTA that year. Klass said "it never gets easier" talking about baby loss and it feels like "ripping off the band aid every time". However, she persists because it keeps her "connected to what happened and the babies I lost", she told the BBC.
Watch: Myleene Klass breaks down in tears as she discusses miscarriages
"When I think back to how all of this started, it all came from a very dark place, and I certainly didn’t have it in mind to become a campaigner at the time," she added.
"Anyone who has experienced baby loss will know how personal and difficult it is to vocalise this level of trauma."
Klass supported changes to the Women’s Health Strategy in Parliament, including a call to ensure women will not have to suffer up to three miscarriages before receiving help. In the UK, it is thought that every one in eight pregnancies end in miscarriage, making it much more common than many people realise.
The Department of Health and Social Care announced a new package of measures last year aimed at "boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls", following Klass’s efforts.
The new package includes medical intervention for women after every miscarriage they experience.
The government also launched the baby loss certificate scheme last February, which allows parents who have experienced pregnancy loss to apply for a certificate to formally recognise the loss of their child.
Klass told the PA news agency she met campaigners and other women who spoke up in Parliament about the need for change in women’s health care, which inspired her to speak up as well.
"I feel really proud of how far I’ve come. Because I didn’t think that this would be possible after my first miscarriage," she said.
"It just felt that it was just far too steep a mountain to climb, and I thought that maybe someone else would do it, because I’m not a healthcare professional.
"I don’t know the questions to ask, but then, as many people I’m sure will confirm, when you find yourself in that situation, the questions to ask are the questions that you are looking for the answers to, and they just didn’t seem to have the most simple answers.
"And so it felt like someone, myself, like a normal mum, had to go into Westminster and ask those questions. It’s been reported, and I’ve said it many times, but Westminster owns our wombs, and they do.
"Decisions are being made sitting on those green leather chairs by people who don’t even experience what many of the population go through."
For more information and support you can visit Tommy’s or stillbirth and neonatal death charity, Sands UK.
Read more about pregnancy and baby loss:
'Nobody else really understands' Bereaved parents invited to memorial for babies (Grimsby Live, 2-min read)
Myleene Klass breaks down in tears over miscarriage heartache (Yahoo Entertainment, 3-min read)
Introducing baby loss certificates shows the conversation around miscarriage is slowly changing (The Independent, 5-min read)
