Sharon Stone has revealed she had nine miscarriages in a powerful statement about 'female health and wellness'.
The Basic Instinct actress, 64, commented on an Instagram post shared by PEOPLE about Peta Murgatroyd's recent miscarriage while her husband, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, was in Ukraine.
"We, as females don’t have a forum to discuss the profundity of this loss," Stone wrote in response to the post.
"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."
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She added: "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’s Instagram comment received praise from women who called for female reproductive health to no longer be a ‘taboo’ subject in society.
One Instagram user replied: “Thank you so much for sharing that. I’m SO sorry you had to go through that. So many things related to female reproductive health are taboo on our culture—periods, menopause, and, most painfully, fertility, miscarriage, and abortion.
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“Women feel alone in dealing with these things that are so central to our lives and our bodies.
It’s crazy that, in this day and age, there’s still this aura of embarrassment and shame attached to anything related to women’s bodies.”
They added: “If we just normalised talking about these things, we wouldn’t have to feel alone.”
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Another woman shared the benefits of speaking openly about pregnancy loss. She wrote: “Very true. I've experienced three pregnancy losses in one year, all during the pandemic.
“The mental and physical toll of the third loss almost broke me and I'm still recovering almost a year later. If it weren't for one friend who shared her losses openly, I would have thought I was completely alone in this.
“As I've shared my losses with others I was surprised to find almost every woman I spoke with had experienced at least one loss herself. We definitely need to talk about these things more.
“Too many us suffer in silence when we could be grieving and healing together.”
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While another woman thanked Stone for sharing her pregnancy loss experience and opened up about her own experiences. She commented: “I completely agree!! I’ve lost eight. I was pregnant every year after I had my son (second child, I was 23 at the time). On the seventh year I got pregnant yet again and was blessed with my third and last child.
“I lost two more after her each year. I was pregnant every year for nine years. A few of those miscarriages almost cost me my life.
“It takes a toll mentally and physically. I was so young that looking back, there wasn’t really many options to help with the healing I so desperately needed. My husband was my support and rock through it all. One day we’ll meet all of them”.
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Stone has three children through adoption; Roan Joseph Bronstein, 22, Laird Vonne Stone, 17 and Quinn Kelly Stone, 16.
For baby loss support contact Tommy's www.tommys.org and to learn more about miscarriage visit www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk
Gregory Robinson