Chrissy Teigen Says She ‘Didn’t Know’ She Was Having an Abortion with Late Son Jack

Teigen shared her abortion story in a speech at Arizona's Proposition 139 rally, supporting the right to an abortion in the state, in Phoenix on Oct. 27

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Chrissy Teigen; Chrissu Teigen in 2020. Photo:

Charley Gallay/Getty; chrissy Teigen/instagram

Chrissy Teigen is opening up about her late-term abortion experience.

Teigen, 38, shared her story while speaking at a rally supporting Arizona's right-to-abortion initiative, Proposition 139, in Phoenix, on Sunday, Oct. 27.

During her speech, she shared that she “didn’t know” she had an abortion in 2020 when she lost her son Jack after experiencing pregnancy complications.

In a video of her speech shared by CNN, Teigen recalled her pregnancy with Jack “taking a turn for the worse,” which led to her having a life-saving abortion that she initially thought was a miscarriage.

“One thing that was hard for me was that I never experienced any pain in it so I never thought of it as being anything other than a miscarriage,” she said. “We hear the word abortion, we think there's some kind of pain with it … nowhere in those days in the hospital getting blood transfusions did I think that I was in danger of losing this baby because I was in no pain.”

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Chrissy Teigen (left) and John Legend after losing son Jack in 2020.

chrissy Teigen/instagram

Teigen continued, “There's such a stigma around the word abortion. Nobody wants to say abortion ... I didn’t even know I had one. And that was so embarrassing to admit in front of the entire world."

The cookbook author then shared the moment she came to realize she’d had an abortion while speaking with her husband John Legend when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

“I remember it happening and me looking at John saying, ‘That is so terrible what those people have to go through and this choice they have to make. That is so terrible for them.’ And then he said, ‘for you, for us,’ ” Teigen recalled.

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He's like, ‘You had an abortion.’ … And I was like, ‘No f------ way. Really? No way.’ My mind was blown that day,” she continued. “I realized that same day that if I didn't know the language around this and I didn't know what was happening to my body, how could other people possibly empathize with our situation and our scenario?”

Teigen — who shares Luna, 8, Miles, 6, Esti, 20 months, and Wren, 15 months, with Legend, 45 —concluded that she hopes to amplify the voices of those who have gone through similar experiences and help spread the message that "abortion is healthcare."

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Teigen’s appearance at the rally comes after her husband Legend shared more heartbreaking details of losing their son Jack on the Wednesday, Oct. 23 episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast.

“My wife, she was well past 15 weeks when she had to have an abortion,” Legend told host Shannon Sharpe. “She was miscarrying and bleeding out, and all these things were happening … Her life was in danger.”

Teigen experienced a partial placenta abruption at 20 weeks, which means the placenta separated from the uterus wall too early. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the condition can be life-threatening to both the fetus and mother.

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