It’s been a rough few weeks for singer John Legend and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen, who suffered the devastating loss of their third child in September.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Legend says he and his wife have been comforted by the overwhelming support from people who have reached out to them. “We’ve heard from so many people who have gone through it too, and it’s been encouraging to be getting so much love and support from so many people who have experienced similar things,” he said. “Chrissy sharing what she shared has also been helpful for other people who are going through it and may go through it in the future. So thank you.”
Legend also says in the aftermath of such heartbreak, he’s been able to self-reflect. “Whenever we go through personal challenges — and I think challenges as a nation — I think we have to hold on to what makes us optimistic. What makes us hopeful, hold onto the things that bring us joy,” the singer explained. “And in my family, as we’ve gone through a tough year, we hold onto the fact that we have two beautiful kids that we love and are such a beautiful reflection of who we are and what we value.”
Legend and Teigen, who are parents to a four-year-old daughter named Luna and a two-year-old son named Miles, made their pregnancy reveal in the video for Legend’s song “Wild” back in August. On Sept. 30th, Teigen revealed in a deeply personal Instagram post that their son, whom they’d affectionately named “Jack,” did not survive.
“We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions,” wrote under a series of photos showing her final moments in the hospital with their late son. “It just wasn’t enough.”
Teigen later penned an emotional essay, revealing she had been diagnosed with a complication called partial placenta abruption. She also defended her decision to take photographs of the deeply painful moments in the hospital with their late son. She says that her husband was opposed to the idea of taking the photos, but that, “I needed to know of this moment forever, the same way I needed to remember us kissing at the end of the aisle, the same way I needed to remember our tears of joy after Luna and Miles. And I absolutely knew I needed to share this story.”
She also paid tribute to their son Jack in the essay, promising that his memory would live on forever. “Jack will always be loved, explained to our kids as existing in the wind and trees and the butterflies they see,” she wrote. “Thank you so much to every single person who has had us in their thoughts or gone as far as to send us your love and stories. We are so incredibly lucky.”