'Grey's Anatomy' star Jessica Capshaw recounts 'deep sadness' after suffering miscarriage a decade ago

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jessica Capshaw revisited a painful segment of her journey towards motherhood while responding to a fan on her ‘Call It What It Is’ podcast.

On Sunday, the 47-year-old actress released a new episode of her iHeartRadio podcast ‘Call It What It Is’ which she co-hosts with Camilla Luddington.

During the podcast episode, Capshaw revealed a painful experience saying she has had a miscarriage between her third and fourth baby. 

The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star, who is best known for playing the role of Arizona Robbins in the hit TV show, is a mother of four children. 

Capshaw shares her four children – Luke, 16, Eve, 13, Poppy, 12, and Josephine, eight – with her entrepreneur husband Christopher Gavigan. 

Jessica Capshaw reveals she had a miscarriage

During Sunday’s episode, Jessica Capshaw’s co-host Camilla Luddington, 40, took a question from a listener, who, though a mother of two, wanted some guidance on whether welcoming a third child would be a good decision. 

While Luddington shared that she knew two were enough for her, she then redirected the question to Capshaw. 

Addressing Capshaw, Luddington said, “You have four, though, so this is a different answer for you.”

Capshaw responded saying, “I think that the answer is that it's a very personal answer,” before adding that it helps to be “really really in touch and really really honest with yourself and with your partner," per People.

She explained, “For me, I came from a big family, so I think that it was very natural and I didn't feel overwhelmed.”

“And Luke is three years older than Eve, and then Poppy is only 20 months younger than Eve. So we went like boom boom. It was Luke, and a break then Eve, and then I got pregnant when Eve was 10 months old,” Capshaw continued. 

However, soon tragedy struck, as Capshaw planned her fourth child with her husband. 

The actress continued, “I got pregnant and I was so excited and I had never had any issues before getting pregnant. I was very lucky and I'm very grateful. And then all of a sudden, at my 10-week appointment, [I] went in for the ultrasound, was by myself, totally unsuspecting, and there was no heartbeat.”

Describing the situation as “horrible,” she called her experience to be “the most shocking and deeply, deeply sad thing.”

She recalled feeling a “deep sadness” during that time and also had to undergo a surgical procedure to get her uterus emptied. 

Nevertheless, she shared in the podcast that she was “very, very fortunate” to have a “compassionate” doctor and partner throughout the process of “pain” and “disappointment.”

Capshaw added, “And then you know, life carried on, and I had a chance to take care of myself and my body and my relationship and my other children, and it was really incredible.

Jessica Capshaw was inspired by Kelly Ripa to welcome her fourth child

As Jessica Capshaw is inspiring others to expand their family, it was Kelly Ripa who inspired Capshaw to have another child. 

During a virtual appearance on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ in 2020, Capshaw shared that Ripa supported her decision to welcome her fourth child, per People.

The daughter of actress Kate Capshaw told ‘Live!’ co-host Ryan Seacrest, "Kelly was a very strong vote in favor of [having a fourth baby]," adding that she was anxious about it. 

Capshaw added, "She was like, 'Have the fourth, have the fourth'. ... I'm very grateful because I'm so happy."