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28 March 2024

Zuckerberg's miscarriage news prompts outpouring of emotions

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting a baby girl, he said on his Facebook page on July 31, 2015. (Facebook)

Published
By Ajanta Paul with inputs from Reuters

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting a baby girl, he said on his Facebook page on Friday.

He shared the joy but also reveal their pain. The couple, married in 2012, had three miscarriages.

"It's a lonely experience," Mark Zuckerberg says. "We hope that sharing our experience will give more people the same hope we felt and will help more people feel comfortable sharing their stories," wrote the founder of the world's largest social media network.

(Facebook)

Zuckerberg opened up about the emotions he and Chan, who is a doctor, have felt while trying to have children. He wrote about the hope they felt upon learning about each pregnancy.

"You start making plans, and then they're gone. It's a lonely experience," he posted. "Most people don't discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you. So you struggle on your own."

Zuckerberg noted that Chan, 30, and their child are both healthy and that he would share more as her due date approached.

"In our ultrasound, she even gave a thumbs up 'like' with her hand," he wrote, "so I'm already convinced she takes after me."

Support:

Along with thousands of congratulatory messages, some of them were extraordinarily personal, with women's stories of other miscarriages and the silence that often accompanies heartbreaking loss.

Replying to Zuckerberg's Facebook post a California user named Jennifer Torres-O'Callaghan thanked the couple for sharing their story.

She told the Facebook founder: 'We, too, suffered miscarriages early on... the pain is so intense and the sense of grief is real. Thank you for letting other couples know that they are not alone.'

"My husband and I are going through the same thing," a user named Bethany wrote. "We just had a miscarriage in May...so it's nice to know I'm not alone."

Replying to Zuckerberg user Talia Haykin, from Denver, Colorado, wrote: 'My husband and i lost two dearly wanted babies to miscarriage in the last 16 months. Today I am holding our son who was just born'

Meanwhile, Rachael Marie said: 'We experienced 2 miscarriages before this pregnancy (I'm 35 weeks with baby boy Isaiah right now), and you're absolutely right: it is a very lonely experience'

And user Sarah Prout wrote: 'Congratulations Mark! I'm so happy for you both. I lost 5 pregnancies in a year and gave birth to a healthy baby girl in March. Let me tell you, it's so worth the wait.'

Zuckerberg, 31, posted his and 30-year-old Chan's pregnancy announcement on Facebook on Friday morning, along with a photo of himself with his pregnant wife and their pet dog, Beast.

Yul Kwon, deputy chief privacy officer at Facebook, commented that he and his wife did not realize how many of their friends had gone through a miscarriage - like them - until they spoke about it.

'The outpouring of support we found was enormously comforting and helped us through some tough times. Congratulations and best wishes on an awesome journey!' he told Zuckerberg.