The 'DWTS' pro opened up the heartbreak of losing 3 pregnancies. She's trying to help shed the stigma around fertility issues.
Peta Murgatroyd, 35, has bravely revealed she’s endured 3 miscarriages. The New Zealand-born dancer opened up about her fertility problems in an interview with husband Maks Chmerkovskiy, 42, for People, explaining how her last miscarriage happened before she even knew she was pregnant.
Peta found herself so weak she had to go to the hospital back in Oct 2021. She remembers waking up in the hospital, telling the magazine, “I had no strength. I couldn’t open a dishwasher. I couldn’t open the fridge to feed Shai, to get him some toast. It got so bad that my breath was starting to be affected. It was really dramatic.”
When she was at the hospital, there was more bad news. She was told she was pregnant but had miscarried amid her illness.
Though heartbroken, she considered it a bitter blessing. “I ultimately had no idea [I was pregnant],” she explained. “Which in hindsight was better for my recovery because I didn’t have that super joyous moment of, ‘I’m pregnant again! I just had the moment of, ‘You lost it.'”
Peta got sick with COVID after traveling to Ukraine to meet Maks, in hopes of conceiving a sibling for their son Shai, 5. Though they were successful, her body couldn’t fight off the virus and sustain the pregnancy at the same time.
It was devastating for Peta, who said, “I felt like I was dying, but then I obviously knew what had happened. It was just all too much for my body and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me.”
The experience was familiar for the dancer, who revealed she’d previously miscarried at five weeks in the fall of 2020, and again nine months later. It was shocking to the star, who admitted, “I’m somebody who prides herself on health wellness. I exercise every single day. But as I came to realize, that doesn’t really go hand-in-hand with the reproductive system.”
Now, Peta and Maks are relying on professional help with their fertility issues, working with a team of doctors on IVF treatments. The dancers are excited for the future. “For the first time in nearly two years, I feel excited. I’m in a much happier place. I got answers.” She added, “I don’t have any other words but hope and positivity. I’m crossing my fingers that this is going to work.”
