Rebecca Adlington has opened up about her devastating miscarriage on Loose Women and admitted she can’t stop blaming herself for the tragedy, but is glad she spoke openly about her grief.
During Tuesday’s installment of the ITV programme, the Olympic swimmer, 35, appeared as a guest on the panel alongside hosts Charlene White, Janet Street-Porter, Brenda Edwards, and Katie Piper.
The Olympic medalist, who has gone public about her miscarriage in October 2023, told the panel that she was ‘happy’ she was honest and open with the public because she believed talking about it would help many women.
She said: “I think about my most recent miscarriage with Harper last year, I was 20 weeks pregnant, I couldn’t get away from this big lump, and I announced the pregnancy to almost “oh where’s the baby and why not yet? ‘Does she have a lump again”
He added: ‘It will lead to speculation and a lot of questions.’
Rebecca Adlington has opened up about her devastating miscarriage on Loose Women and admitted she can’t stop blaming herself for the tragedy.
During Tuesday’s installment of the ITV program, the Olympic swimmer appeared as a guest alongside hosts Charlene White , Janet Street-Porter , Brenda Edwards , and Katie Piper
‘So I’m forced, I’ve learned my lesson, but one of them, I have no choice but to announce it.’
She admitted: ‘And actually I’m very happy, because I think it helps a lot of women.’
While discussing how Rebecca keeps Harper a part of the family home, the athlete told Katie, 40, that she planted a cherry tree in the bottom of her garden.
She said: ‘We have a cherry blossom tree, we have a little handprint on the wall in the living room with the family, Albie and Summer are always going “Harper is my sister.”
He added: ‘Even on holiday last week there was a little chapel where we were in Greece and they lit a candle for Harper.’
‘He is part of our family, he will always be part of our family, and we can discuss him now in a way that we are not in a flood of tears.’
Janet, 77, then asked Rebecca if her husband agreed with her to talk about miscarriages so publicly that she opened with support.
He told Janet: ‘He did, I feel lucky enough to consult together through the petals and I think being together is very important.’
The Olympic medalist told the panelists that she was ‘happy’ that she was being honest and was open with the public because she believed that talking about it helped a lot of women.
The former competitive swimmer revealed she lost her daughter Harper to a late miscarriage in October 2023 – after she lost another child at 12 weeks in 2022
‘Because she gets a lot of questions (like) “How’s Becky” and it’s her child too.’
Rebecca also revealed that she did not experience any symptoms or notice any signs of miscarriage until she was notified at the 20 week scan.
He told the panelists: ‘There are no symptoms without signs, we only know by going to the 20-week scan,’
She then said that she did not receive any explanation as to why she miscarried.
He said: ‘It’s something we don’t know, we’ve had all the post mortems, all the tests we’ve done, and they still can’t tell us why it happened.’
During the show, Brenda, 55, also asked Rebecca to explain why she did it before blaming herself, claiming she ‘can’t feel like I’ve done anything’.
He told me: ‘I think you have yourself to blame. Once the child is born, you have 50/50 responsibility for your children, whether you are the parent,’
‘And for nine months this responsibility is your responsibility as a woman, it’s your job to keep the child safe and I can’t do that, I can’t do anything.’
‘So I think it’s just natural, and I just can’t help but feel like I’ve done something, even though I know I haven’t because there’s no reason for it.’
While discussing how Rebecca keeps Harper a part of her family home, the athlete revealed that she planted a cherry tree at the bottom of her garden.
Rebecca says she will never get over the miscarriage as she discusses the difficult year her family has had.
Her appearance on Loose Women came after she broke down in tears as she spoke about the number of victims of two miscarriages in mental health.
The Olympic swimmer lost her son Harper to a late miscarriage in October 2023 – after she lost another child at 12 weeks in 2022.
Rebecca shares her son Albie, three, with husband Andy Parsons as well as daughter Summer, eight, from her previous marriage to swimmer Harry Needs.
The athlete has openly spoken about her shock at having two miscarriages after two low-risk pregnancies.
After Albie was born, Rebecca became pregnant about a year later and found out at the 12 week scan that she had miscarried.
Speaking to Giovanna Fletcher on the latest episode of the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, Rebecca said: “It didn’t go into the realm of possibility that I might have miscarried because I was also at risk of pregnancy. I didn’t have any symptoms, I felt exactly the same as any other pregnancy. ‘
“He’s part of our family, he’ll be part of our family, and we can talk about him now in a way that doesn’t flood us with tears,” she told the panelists.
Rebecca with husband Andy Parsons, son Albie and daughter Summer from her previous marriage to fellow swimmer Harry Needs
Rebecca had to return the next day for emergency surgery. On his way home, he developed sepsis.
‘I passed out on the bathroom floor. I can’t stand up. I know myself. I can’t open my eyes or function. I went to the hospital and was told I had sepsis.’
‘It was just horrible. It was the worst 10 days of my life.’
Rebecca became pregnant again with daughter Harper in 2023 and all looked good at the 12 week scan.
“We had a private scan at 15 weeks and thought we could announce the pregnancy. I was so excited. He was going to kiss my belly. We had an appointment with the midwife at 17 weeks and the heartbeat was all good.’
‘At 18 weeks we booked in for a scan and found out it was a girl.’
Rebecca said on the day of her 20-week scan she had a ‘terrible’ feeling she couldn’t explain.
She said: “It was a terrible moment when I had the scan and I could see Andy’s face looking worried. We just held each other’s hands and were silent. He said: “I’m sorry there’s no heartbeat”.’
Rebecca was told that she needed to have a tablet for labor and delivery.
Last year Rebecca went into hospital for a 12-week scan and then had to have an emergency operation after discovering she had miscarried.
Andy and Rebecca exchanged vows in a Cheshire ceremony, five months after welcoming their son (pictured showing wedding ring)
With tears, the Olympian told Giovanna: ‘To give birth. I thought that was so cruel. It was a horrible three days. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare. It’s just horrible.’
‘We caught him. We have spent quite a bit of time with him. It looks like he is sleeping. It was the most painful, horrible thing that ever happened but it was done in the most sensitive way.’
‘When I got home, I felt lost. How do you say Summer? I found that really difficult. He was heartbroken. It was devastating for her and Albie said: “Mom, isn’t there a baby in my belly now?”.
Rebecca admits she started blaming herself. She said: ‘I hate myself for not being able to protect my children. And I just struggle mentally because I hate myself. I just, I feel responsible.
‘There was nothing to see why he had passed.
Athlete: Rebecca won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympics and two bronze medals at London 2012
Andy and Rebecca tied the knot back in August with a Cheshire ceremony, five months after welcoming their son.
The pair met on dating app Bumble in 2018, with the swimmer gushing after the wedding ‘It’s been great for us. We couldn’t be happier.
The pair began dating two years after the swimmer split from ex-husband Harry, and she previously admitted she was nervous about finding love again.
The pair quickly fell in love and facility manager Andy moved from Liverpool to live with Rebecca in Manchester in 2019.
Rebecca, who won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympics and two bronze medals at London 2012, was previously married to Summer’s father Harry – with the pair splitting in 2016.
As a result of Rebecca’s two gold medal wins at the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became Britain’s first Olympic swimming champion since 1988. In 2013, aged 23, she retired from all competitive swimming.
If you have been affected by this story, you can get advice at www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk or www.tommys.org or by calling 01924 200 799
Download Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast every Tuesday at 6am from acast.com
