Alicia Vikander shares her ‘painful’ miscarriage experience with Michael Fassbender
Actor Alicia Vikander has sadly shared in a new interview that she and husband, Michael Fassbender, struggled to conceive and suffered a miscarriage before welcoming their one-year-old son together. Alicia also said during her conversation with The Times that some of her roles now feel 'meta', as twice she has signed on to play somebody suffering a miscarriage.
In her new HBO series, Irma Vep, Alicia plays a pop singer who has a miscarriage and is told to perform the same night. "We [Michael and I] have a child now, but it took us time," the actor shared, referencing how she also played a character who experienced two miscarriages in the film The Light Between Oceans, where she met her now-husband, seven years ago.
"Talk about meta," she said. "[The miscarriage] was so extreme, painful to go through and, of course, it made me recall making that film. That film has another meaning now."
The Tomb Raider star also commented on how difficult being a public figure can be when you're experiencing issues in your personal life too, something again reflected in her new series, Irma Vep.
"Sometimes you go through things that are tough in life and if you have an office job you can step away for a bit. But there are times that myself or colleagues have been through something and, well, I can’t understand how they went on to the red carpet afterwards," she explained. "To be met by people asking, 'How are you doing?' Given what they had just been through? Most people would not be able to step out of their house."
Around one in four pregnancies in the UK are thought to end in a miscarriage – but, the figure could be much higher given that there are no official records. Hearing celebrities, such as Alicia, speak out about their experience is one way of normalising this very difficult occurrence for many parents-to-be and helping others feel less alone in it.
If you're looking for support or more information about premature births, stillbirths or miscarriage, Tommy's have a free helpline 0800 0147 800 (open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday). There's also a Facebook group.
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