Getty Val Chmerkovskiy & Jenna Johnson
New parents and “Dancing With the Stars” professional dancers Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson are opening up about the miscarriages they experienced while trying to expand their family in a new interview with “Good Morning America.”
The couple welcomed their son, Rome, in January 2023. They had a miscarriage in 2021, however, that they kept secret at the time because they’d been keeping their pregnancy secret.
“We were in Dallas for a show, and while we were practicing, we did something, and I just turned to him,” Johnson said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m — I think I’m bleeding. And immediately my heart just dropped. I could see in his face just went, like, white. And I sprinted to our hotel room, and I lost the baby in our hotel room.”
Johnson recalled being, “so, so sad” and added that she “was hurting so much.”
Johnson Has Asked Fans to Stop Asking When Women Will Have Babies
Johnson previously spoke out about people asking when a couple is going to have babies. Her husband, Val Chmerkovskiy is the brother of Maks Chmerkovskiy. Maks’s wife, Peta Murgatroyd, opened up about having multiple miscarriages before getting pregnant with her second baby.
During a 2022 interview with Us Weekly, Johnson said she is very proud of Murgatroyd, but she hopes that people in the future will stop asking about future pregnancies because it can make infertility harder for everyone than it is without that question constantly coming up.
“As a family [we’ve] obviously known about this and her struggles with it,” she told the outlet. “She’s kept it very private for the past two years. So when I saw the beautiful piece they did and that she finally opened up, I just called her and told her how proud I am of her, because I know how much heartbreak that brought and how badly she wants another baby.”
The professional dancer added that a lot of women have miscarriages but many don’t feel comfortable talking about it. Now that Johnson has opened up about her own miscarriage, her comments may have been referring to her own struggle. At the time, shared that she thought it was “admirable” for Murgatroyd to “come out and share these vulnerable things.”
She said during the interview that the question was “insensitive.”
Johnson Opened Up About Her Postpartum Body
Johnson has opened up to fans about how she’s recovering after having a baby just two months ago. Just one month after having her baby, Johnson uploaded a photo to her Instagram Stories, where she sits cross-legged at the gym and takes a selfie in the mirror.
“And while at the gym I was confronted with many different emotions… -anxiety because I missed my baby -excitement cause my body has been craving movement -humility,” she wrote in the post. “Having to accept that I’m weak and feel as though I’m in a foreign body. slowly needing to rebuild my strength.”
The dancer added that she felt intimidated by the people around her in the gym, but she also felt grace for herself.
“I looked in the mirror and finally took a deep breath out remembering that I just gave birth and shouldn’t have ANY expectations for myself. Postpartum is a trip,” she concluded.
Johnson and Chmerkovskiy welcomed their son on January 10, 2023.
“Our world is forever changed,” the couple wrote alongside an image of their hands intertwined with their baby’s fingers. “1.10.23.”
“Dancing With the Stars” is set to return in the fall of 2023 on Disney+.