Why ABC News' Paula Faris Brought Her Daughter Into the Bathroom for Her Miscarriage
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Paula Faris, the former co-host of Good Morning America Weekend and The View, has been very open about having miscarriages in the past, for the sake of other parents who might go through similar losses. When she stopped by The View this week, Faris explained that when she had another one in July, she decided it was her opportunity to teach her 12-year-old daughter about this natural, if sad, occurrence.
“That was my third miscarriage,” Faris told the panel, explaining that at 44 she was still hoping to have a fourth child, since she is the youngest of four children. “I knew the signs, and I brought my daughter into the restroom with me. I showed her what was going on and I said, ‘I just want to let you know … the baby is probably no longer viable. Mommy doesn’t feel any guilt. This is normal, it happens to so many women, it’s happened to me a couple of other times. When you get pregnant, it might happen to you, honey. And I want you to know there’s nothing you did wrong.’ ”
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Her previous pregnancy loss happened in 2017, when she was at an all-time high in her career. After her miscarriage, a case of flu-turned-pneumonia, a freak accident concussion (someone threw an apple at her head) and a car accident, she decide to step away from both co-hosting gigs. Not that she’s exactly retired at the moment. She still contributes to GMA during the week while also hosting her own podcast called Journeys of Faith.
The View’s Meghan McCain said that when she went through pregnancy loss, she’d found comfort in Faris sharing her previous miscarriages with the public, especially since McCain still feels there’s stigma attached to it.
“It’s important to grieve, but it’s also important to know that this happens to so many of us,” Faris said.
For that reason, SheKnows contributor Lauren Wellbank also told her even younger children when suffered a miscarriage. She explains it better than I could:
“If she decides to have a baby someday, I want her to remember that miscarriages happen, and that they happen to people she knows,” Wellbank wrote for us last fall. “Not because I want her scared or prepared, but because I want her to be able to talk about her own fears and emotions openly. We don’t publicly talk about pregnancy loss as a society, and that does a great disservice to the families who experience it. Nearly one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. That’s a lot of quiet grief that nobody should have to endure alone.”
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