Julia Louis-Dreyfus, best known for her role as Elaine in the iconic 90s sitcom Seinfeld, recently opened up about a lost pregnancy she suffered when she was in her 20s.
Julia talked about her traumatic experience on a recent episode of the Wiser Than Me podcast hosted by herself.
“When I was about 28, I got pregnant for the first time and I was crazy happy,” she recalled, referring to just a few years after she married fellow actor Brad Hall. “I got pregnant easily. I felt very fertile, very womanly. And then, quite late in the pregnancy, my husband, Brad, and I discovered that this little fetus was not going to live.”
Julia and Brad have stayed married since 1987, celebrating 36 years together this June.
“So that was emotionally devastating as you can imagine, but it got worse because I developed an infection that landed me in the hospital,” she continued, calling the circumstance “a complete nightmare” at the time.
In addition to having the support from her husband, who suffered alongside her losing their child, Julia’s mother, Judith Bowles, flew out to help her daughter get through these troubled times.
“After a couple of days, I’d finally gotten out of the hospital and I came home to recuperate, but I wasn’t allowed to get up out of bed yet. I was, as they say, bedridden,”the Veep alum remembered. “But my mom cooked. She made this incredible cozy chili in a cast iron skillet with cornbread on top in the pan.”
All anyone wants in times of stress and grief is something familiar to help ground them, and Julia’s mother’s food was that for her. However, because of the procedure she underwent after losing her child, she was unable to eat for a short period of time. But that “didn’t matter” to her.
“The smell of that cornbread and the chili was so wonderful. It just filled the room and the whole house and my heart, really, because here’s the thing I couldn’t eat. I wasn’t yet allowed to have solid food, but it didn’t matter,” she said, referring to the deliciously smelling meal that she wasn’t able to digest “the best meal ever”.
“The making of it was so comforting and so embracing,” she added.
As is the case with many families, food serves as a loving tradition in Julia’s family that represents home and comfort. So despite the horrific experience of losing her child, she said, “This is one of my greatest memories around food, even though it has sort of an odd kicker.”
Having a miscarriage can be extremely difficult for any mother to have to endure and it could be even harder to have the courage to try again, not to mention dangerous. But Julia didn’t let that stop her and Brad from giving it another shot.
Over the next decade, the couple welcomed two sons, Henry and Charlie, both of which have since channeled the creative bone in their family’s blood.
The oldest, Henry, has embarked on a musical career, debuting his first solo album in 2020 titled Neato. Before he even released his album, he spoke with Rolling Stone about how his mother is his number one supporter.
“My mom was very supportive of my music and still is and comes to all the shows,” Henry said in 2016. “It’s great to have creative people in the family and bounce things off of. I really respect her opinion on all things creative.”
With two actors for parents, one of the sons was bound to give an acting career a shot. That’s where Charlie comes in.
Charlie is following in his parents’ footsteps, having already scored a few TV roles, including on the HBO comedy series The Sex Lives of College Girls, and numerous other recurring roles on Hulu and Peacock shows.
Not only are the Hall boys grateful their parents gave it another shot at being parents, but I’m sure Julia and Brad are thankful for the courage they had to try again and welcome to perfectly healthy sons who are just now starting their potentially successful careers.
Sources:
https://www.today.com/parents/miscarriage/julia-louis-dreyfus-pregnancy-loss-28-rcna81464
vhollywoodlife.com/feature/julia-louis-dreyfus-kids-4818436/
