Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek has come a long way since his days as Joey Potter’s love interest in the iconic TV show.
The actor, now 41, has added another major title to his name – “Daddy” to his five children, Olivia, Emilia, Joshua, Annabel Leah and Gwendolyn.
James and his wife, Kimberly Brook, often share the most beautiful pics and videos of their growing brood on Instagram and while it is very fair to say that parenthood comes with its share of incredible joy, there is some heartache as well.
Over the weekend, James posted a photo of himself with Kimberley and baby Gwndolyn and captioned it with a harrowing account about the loss of two children to miscarriage.
While the post is about loss, it is also a statement on the word itself, that it implies blame upon the woman carrying.
“‘Miscarriage’, in an insidious way, suggests fault for the mother – as if she dropped something, or failed to ‘carry’,” the Pose actor wrote.
“From what I’ve learned, in all but the most obvious, extreme cases, it has nothing to do with anything the mother did or didn’t do. So let’s wipe all blame off the table before we even start.”
“It’s painful and it’s heartbreaking on levels deeper than you may have ever experienced. So don’t judge your grief, or try to rationalize your way around it. Let it flow in the waves in which it comes, and allow its rightful space. And then… once you’re able… try to recognise the beauty in how you put yourself back together differently than you were before,” he added.
Asking his legion of followers to join in on the movement, he coined a hashtag to bring awareness to the issue at hand – #WeNeedANewName, along with asking for others to share their journey.
“Please share whatever may have given you peace or hope along the way… Along with a new word for this experience.”
Comments came flooding in with some women saying that “it gave them permission to be sad” and “the blame game that played (and at times still plays) in my head is profound and real.”
