After 'Dancing With the Stars' reveal, Nancy Kerrigan discusses tragic miscarriages
The Olympian spoke to ABC News' Abbie Boudreau.
— -- After an emotional performance Monday night on "Dancing with the Stars," in which Nancy Kerrigan revealed that she'd had multiple miscarriages over the years, the Olympian sat down with ABC News’ Abbie Boudreau to talk more about her personal tragedies.
The two-time Olympic medalist, who initially wanted three children, explained the emotional toll it took on her and her family as she struggled to have more kids."It was devastating. It's hard on your marriage," she told Boudreau. "You think 'what's wrong with me,' like what did I do so wrong to make this happen," Kerrigan added, admitting she blamed herself.
On Monday’s show, Kerrigan announced how she had six miscarriages in eight years after welcoming her son Matthew in 1996.
"It was really hard," she told her dance partner Artem Chigvintsev in a video created for the show. "It almost felt shameful I think, because I couldn't do it on my own," she added while Chigvintsev consoled her as she began.
"People have babies every day...What did I do?" Kerrigan said to Boudreau. Tearfully, the former Olympian continued, "It was my body. My body was failing and I don't know why."
"Once the pregnancy was 12 weeks, so we were actually far enough along and told Matthew ... it was crazy hard to tell him," Kerrigan said, pausing to gather herself. "He was so excited he was gonna have a brother or sister -- and say that's not going to happen and try to explain to a little kid why ... It's so hard to go through because you feel like you're the only one."
Kerrigan is not alone. According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy in the United States, occurring in 15-20 percent of pregnancies.
Kerrigan said she and her husband Jerry Solomon eventually had another son, Brian, in 2005 and then a daughter, Nicole, in 2008 after in vitro fertilization treatments.
Still, she said there's no concrete answer for how to move on through the situation she faced. "I don't know how you move forward. I don't -- it's sort of life, when you're faced with something unexpected you just do it."
"Even with, when I finally had Brian it took a long time to name him," Kerrigan said. "It was like being afraid to get attached," she added.
Kerrigan dedicated her ballroom dance on Monday to her three children with the message, "Never give up...Keep trying."
"Life throws some wild curve balls at you and you know, but just, it's ok -- keep moving forward,” she said.
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