In Their Honor

I’ve been working on this since I read that Lady Bird Johnson, widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson, suffered ‘several’ pregnancy losses before she went on to bear two full-term, healthy daughters. According to the White House website, she had four (some sources say three), but still it is a significant, even startling number when you consider that this was a woman with access to the best care money could buy. I knew there had to be more famous women out there who have been through this. That said, I have complied this list. I have left out several names from my original list because I have not been able to find reputable documentation of their loss(es).

Really, though, through my three losses to date, I was surprised at the number of celebs who have admitted to it. It’s heartening to read of so many successful, wealthy, high-profile women who no doubt have endured this grief, often multiple times. (The actress Jennifer O’Neill reportedly has suffered pregnancy loss a mind-boggling nine times.)

Some have been very public with their personal tragedies, such as Tori Amos and Courteney Cox. Others have been slighted. In my research, I’ve read that, for example, Princess Masako’s ‘stress’ associated with her position led to her miscarriage, as was her subsequent depression (tsk tsk). Some losses have been attributed to underlying health problems (Mary Tyler Moore’s investigation of her own miscarriage led to her diabetes diagnosis in her late twenties), while others have come as a possible result of damage from then-illegal abortions (Marilyn Monroe, Yoko Ono) and/or drug use (Marianne Faithfull, Courtney Love). But the fact is, perfectly healthy women have these, and we all know of diabetics, drug users and elective abortion survivors who have gone on to have live births.

That said, I wanted to put this list out there, so those of us who have had our dreams dashed know that we’re not alone. The years after the names signify the year that a single loss has occurred, while ‘multiple’ signifies more than one loss. In cases where specifically a stillbirth has been reported, I have noted that. The line underneath the names describe the celebrity’s claim to fame.

As I’ve said, this list is by no means exhaustive. If you know of any others and have a reasonable source, feel free to let me know and I’ll update it as more knowledge becomes known.

---

Originally compiled January 22, 2006 on my original blog
Last updated December 16, 2009



Lilly Allen (2008)
British singer and talk show host

Kirstie Alley (1990)
Actress, Jenny Craig spokeswoman; ‘Miscarriage made me fat’

Tori Amos (multiple)
Singer, activist

Pamela Anderson (1995)
Actress, pinup

Anita Baker (multiple)
Singer

Josephine Baker (1941 stillbirth)
Dancer, icon

Lucille Ball (multiple)
Actress, comedienne

Majel Barrett (multiple)
‘Star Trek’ actress

Ellin Berlin (crib death of three-week-old son on on Christmas day, 1928)
Novelist, wife of 'White Christmas' composer Irving Berlin

Andrea Bernard (2004 stillbirth)
Actress, wife of Rick(y) Schroeder

Michelle Bernard (multiple)
Conservative television figure

Valerie Bertinelli (1986)
Actress

Cherie Blair (2002)
British First Lady

Anne Boleyn (stillborn son)
Wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I

Foxy Brown (2003)
Rapper

Sarah Brown (death of newborn daughter, 2002)
Wife of Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

Barbara Bush (1960s)
First Lady

Diahann Carroll (multiple)
Singer

Nell Carter (multiple)
Actress

Courteney Cox (2001)
Actress

Joan Crawford (multiple)
Actress

Doris Day (multiple)
Actress

Sandra Dee (multiple)
Actress

Natasha Stott Despoja (ectopic, 2006)
Australian senator

Diana, Princess of Wales (miscarriage, early 1980s--between William and Harry)
Icon, would-be Queen

Celine Dion (2009)
Singer

Barbara Eden (1961 miscarriage, 1971 stillbirth)
Actress

Linda Evangelista (1999 stillbirth)
Supermodel

Marianne Faithfull (1968)
Singer

Connie Francis (multiple)
Singer

Deborra-Lee Furness (multiple)
Actress, wife of Hugh Jackman

Mayte Garcia-Nelson (infant)
Dancer, ex-wife of Prince

Kathie Lee Gifford (1992)
Talk show host

Robin Givens (1988)
Actress, ex-wife of Mike Tyson

Renee Elise Goldberry (miscarriage, 2005)
Soap opera actress

Jane Goody (miscarriage of twins, stillbirth)
British reality show personality, cervical cancer victim

Katharine Graham (miscarriage, stillbirth)
Journalist, Washington Post publisher

Linda Hamilton (1980s)
Actress

Audrey Hepburn (multiple)
Actress, UN Ambassador, icon

Xaviera Hollander (ectopic)
Sex columnist, writer, 'The Happy Hooker'

Whitney Houston (multiple)
Singer, actress

Jill Ireland (multiple)
Actress

Eleanor Jackson (stillborn son)
Wife of Stonewall Jackson, Civil War figure

Katherine Jackson (stillborn son)
Mother of Michael Jackson; stillborn twin's son was Marlon

Lady Bird Johnson (multiple)
First Lady

Frida Kahlo
Artist

Katharine, Duchess of Kent (miscarriage and stillbirth)

Joan Bennett Kennedy (miscarriage, stillbirth)
Sister-in-law of President John F. and Jackie Kennedy

Nancy Kerrigan (multiple)
Olympic figure skater

Nicole Kidman (2001)
Actress, model

Gladys Knight (1960)
Singer

Andrée Lachapelle (stillborn daughter
Actress

Lucy Lawless (2001)
Actress

Vivien Leigh (multiple)
‘Gone with the Wind’ actress

Annie Lennox (stillbirth 1988)
Singer

Sophia Loren (multiple)
Actress

Courtney Love (2001)
Rocker, widow of Kurt Cobain

Loretta Lynn (multiple - due to Rh factor)
Country music legend

Kym Marsh (stillbirth, 2009)
Actress, 'Coronation Street'

Owada Masako (1999)
Crown Princess of Japan

Mary Matalin (multiple)
Political advisor

Bette Midler (1987)
Singer, actress

Heather Mills McCartney (two ectopic and six other miscarriages; *unfortunately doubtful because it seems that everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie); in divorce papers, however, one miscarriage was verified
Activist, ex-model, ex-wife of Paul McCartney

Liza Minnelli (multiple)
Singer, actress

Joni Mitchell (1990)
Singer

Rosa Monckton (stillborn daughter, 1994)
Charity fundraiser, best friend of Princess Diana. This is especially notable because Diana allowed her to bury her daughter Natalia in her private Kensington Palace garden. With Diana's death, however, Rosa was forever unable to visit Natalia's unmarked grave.

Marilyn Monroe (1957 ectopic)
Actress

Nicoletta Mantovani (stillbirth of one of her twins)
Assistant-turned-wife of Luciano Pavarotti

Demi Moore (1987)
Actress

Mary Tyler Moore (mid-1960s, led to her diabetes diagnosis)
Actress

Jennifer O'Neill (multiple)
Actress

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death)
First Lady, editor, icon

Yoko Ono (multiple)
Artist, muse

Molly Picon (stillborn daughter, 1920)
Musical theater actress

Jane Pratt (still twins, 2005)
Magazine editor, Jane

Gladys Presley (stillborn son 1935)
Elvis' mother; it was his twin

Katie 'Jordan' Price (multiple)
British glamour model and reality TV personality

Gilda Radner (multiple)
Comedienne

Amanda Redman (multiple ectopic)
Actress

Aliza Reger (stillborn daughter)
Entrepreneur and CEO

Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex (ectopic)
Wife of Prince Edward of England

Joan Rivers (multiple)
Comedienne

Katey Sagal (1990 or 1991)
Actress

Jane Seymour (multiple)
Actress

Brooke Shields (multiple)
Supermodel, actress, adversary of Tom Cruise

Elizabeth Siddal (stillborn daughter)
Wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, muse

Justine Simmons (daughter, right after birth)
Wife of Reverend Run (Run-DMC)

Danielle Steel (multiple)
Romance novelist

Sharon Stone (multiple)
Actress

Jennifer Syme (stillbirth, 1999)
Actress, late girlfriend of Keanu Reeves

Emily Tennyson (stillborn son)
Wife of poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Emma Thompson (1997)
Actress

Bess Truman (multiple)
First Lady

Lana Turner (multiple)
Actress

Tracey Ullman (multiple)
Comedienne

Meredith Viera (multiple)
Television personality

Vanna White (1992)
Game show host

JoBeth Williams (multiple)
Actress

Oprah Winfrey (stillbirth in teen years)
Entrepreneur, TV personality

Trinny Woodall (multiple)
BBC TV personality

Pia Zadora (1996)
Singer, actress