Caption: Jessica Fox Pregnant
(Picture:@jessicalafox/Instagram)
Content warning: this article contains references to pregnancy loss.
Hollyoaks star Jessica Fox has shared her excitement over her pregnancy while opening up about her experiences with miscarriages for Baby Loss Awareness Week.
In a post shared on Instagram, who’s played Nancy Hayton on the Channel 4 soap since 2005, shared pictures of herself with her husband Nicholas Willes holding up images from her ultrasound scan.
The couple also wore matching hats for the photos, with Jessica’s saying ‘Mum’ and and Nicholas’ reading ‘Dad’.
In her caption, Jessica, 39, addressed the fact that the week just gone was Baby Loss Awareness Week.
‘So it seemed a good (and bad) time to share our story at the end of such an important and heartbreaking campaign and to show our support to all those who have been or are going through a similar journey,’ she wrote.
The actress also gave a trigger warning to her followers who may be trying to conceive or are conceiving after loss, adding: ‘Please make use of the mute or unfollow button if any of this is too much for you. Out of difficulties, grow miracles.’
After the pictures of Jessica and Nicholas with the images of the scan, the Hollyoaks star shared a longer caption in her post explaining the ‘rocky road’ she’s had in the past.
‘Miscarriage is awful. There’s no other word for it. It robs you of the future you had planned, your faith in your body, it’s isolating, lonely, frightening and something no one seems to talk about, it’s incredibly painful. It’s pass out in your bathroom painful,’ she said.
‘It takes away the joy and excitement when and if you choose (and are able) to get pregnant again. It’s replaced by anxiety, stress and more fear than I could ever have imagined.’
Jessica shared that she and Nick ‘lost two babies in 2021’, as she wrote: ‘Both losses were at the end of the first trimester and completely heartbreaking.’
Jessica explained how her real-life experiences were linked to her character Nancy’s (Picture: Lime Pictures)
Jessica revealed that in a ‘cruel twist of fate’, when she was pregnant for the second time, her character on Hollyoaks was as well.
While fans speculated whether she was pregnant in real life, and the wardrobe department ‘were the only ones who knew I was expecting’, the actress then suffered pregnancy loss.
‘As Nancy’s pregnancy progressed, mine didn’t. Putting on the bigger bumps, going to set and having well meaning people say it suited me, or think it was real, ask if I wanted children or when I was going to have children was a daily part of life and each time felt like a fresh blow,’ she stated.
Then when it came to filming the birth scene, Jessica said: ‘On my due date, at work, I was handed a beautiful tiny baby and I cried uncontrollably throughout the whole scene. The director, not knowing my situation must have thought I was fantastic. I was broken.’
Jessica outlined the way her experiences took a toll on her mental health.
Then when she was on holiday in Greece, ‘I saw the most beautiful rainbow, I was pregnant by the time I got home’.
The actress is now being ‘monitored closely’ and she is 20 weeks along her pregnancy.
‘I’ll keep you updated on our journey and experiences but for now lots of love and to anyone who recognises something of themselves in my story, I see you. You are not alone. X,’ she wrote.
‘Out of difficulties, grow miracles. Due spring 2023. Chuffed as punch.’
Pregnancy loss helpline
For emotional support, you can contact Miscarriage Association’s pregnancy loss helpline on 01924 200799 or email [email protected].
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‘Out of difficulties, grow miracles,’ the actress said.