Miscarriage is a painful part of many women's lives that often goes unaddressed. Any pregnancy that is lost before a woman is 20 weeks along is considered a miscarriage. Miscarriages often come on suddenly, without warning, and, in many cases, the reasons why a woman loses a baby are never uncovered.

While many deal with this devastating loss, few feel comfortable speaking openly about the often-traumatizing experience of losing a baby. What many who have been victims of miscarriage may fail to realize is that there is a high likelihood that the woman next to them in line at the grocery store or pushing her child alongside them at the park may have also gone through this heartbreaking experience. 

The American College of Obstetricians has estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage. However, a recent survey concluded that 55 percent of responders asked about miscarriage shared that, in their opinions, suffering a miscarriage was an “uncommon" occurrence. The survey also found that 40 percent of women who have dealt with pregnancy loss felt isolated and alone afterwards. This may have something to do with the lack of awareness about how common miscarriages are. 

Many brave celebrities have come forward to share their own experiences with miscarriage in the hopes of shedding light on how many women suffer in silence after the loss of a pregnancy. If women who have had miscarriages are aware that they are not alone in their grief, they may be better able to heal after a tragic loss. We applaud the famous women on the list below for being courageous enough to open up about their heartrending experiences with pregnancy loss.

15 Pink

Pink is a strong mother-of-two who has been bravely outspoken about controversial topics such as breastfeeding and the pressure put on women to behave a certain way. She doesn't shy away from hot-button issues that others are often reluctant to address.

In November of 2010 the Grammy winner announced the wonderful news that she and her hubby, Carey Hart, were expecting their first child together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She went on to share that she had been reluctant to announce her pregnancy due to her past experience with pregnancy loss. Pink told Ellen, "I didn't want to talk about it because I was just really nervous. I have had a miscarriage before.”

After welcoming her daughter, Willow Sage, to the world in June of 2011, Pink told People magazine, "You hear people say it all the time, how life changes so drastically. But you can't possibly grasp how beautiful that is until you have your child." The rocker and her motocross man added a second baby, Jameson Moon, to their brood in December of 2016.

14 Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow revealed to the Daily Mail that her third pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. The actress shared in 2013, "My children ask me to have a baby all the time. And you never know, I could squeeze one more in. I am missing my third. I’m thinking about it. But I had a really bad experience when I was pregnant with my third. It didn’t work out and I nearly died. So I am like, ‘Are we good here or should we go back and try again?'"

Paltrow has two beautiful little ones, Apple and Moses, and has maintained a positive outlook on life despite her grief.

Recently when asked whether or not she planned to have more children, Gwyneth admitted, "I’m so past that, I think I may have missed the window. I think maybe when Moses was three I would have done it… but now he’s six and such a guy I feel like I’m out of the baby phase. If it happens, it happens.”

13 Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan has dealt with her share of demons since shooting into the spotlight when she was still a young child. It's common knowledge that she's battled addictions to alcohol and drugs, but it was a surprise to many when she revealed she'd also suffered a miscarriage.

In March of 2014, Lindsay opened up about the loss. She has shared that a miscarriage was to blame when she was absent for the filming of her OWN docuseries, Lindsay. She shared, “I cried so many times watching [the show]. If I know I’m not capable of being on, that’s why I would say I couldn’t film today. No one knows this... I had a miscarriage for those two weeks that I took off.”

The actress continued, “I couldn’t move. I was sick. And mentally that messes with you. Watching this series, I just know how I felt at that moment and I can relate to that girl, which sounds kind of crazy. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this is really sad. Who’s helping her?’”

12 Mariah Carey

Sensational singer Mariah Carey is the proud mother of twins Moroccan and Monroe. She and her ex-husband welcomed their bouncing babies to the world in 2011 when Carey was 41. Cannon and Carey were married in 2008, after which Mariah suffered a miscarriage.

After the loss, she told US Weekly that she had started taking progesterone to help boost her chances of getting pregnant and to keep her pregnancy healthy after she conceived. Carey has denied ever doing IVF, but Cannon revealed to the mag that Mariah underwent daily acupuncture treatments "all over her body" while trying to get pregnant, a treatment that may have assisted her in getting two buns baking in her oven.

While Carey was pregnant with the twins, she opened up to Access Hollywood about her first pregnancy, and how horrible it was when she lost the baby. She admitted, “It kind of shook us both and took us to a place that was really dark and difficult."

11 Lily Allen

British pop singer, Lily Allen, dealt with the devastating losses of two babies in three years. She lost her first pregnancy in 2008, and her second pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth after a viral infection caused her to go into labor when she was just 20 weeks along.

Allen married her man Sam Cooper in June 2011, and has since given birth to two healthy baby girls: Ethel and Marnie. She has revealed to the Mirror Online, “I think even though what happened to us is beyond devastating, it’s made me realize what I have got, which I don’t think I ever really did before.”

Speaking about her experience, she has shared, “It was horrendous and something I would not wish on my worst enemy. It’s something that I still haven’t dealt with. I never will get over it. I have dealt with it, you know, as being at one with it. But it’s not something that you get over. I held my child and it was really horrific and painful--one of the hardest things that can happen to a person.”

10 Nicole Kidman

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has struggled with infertility throughout her life. She has revealed that she suffered two miscarriages soon after marrying her first husband, Tom Cruise. Eventually, the two turned to adoption to start their family, and welcomed children Isabella and Connor into their brood.

Kidman has shared, "From the minute Tom and I were married, I wanted to have babies. And we lost a baby early on, so that was really very traumatic. And that's when we would adopt Bella.”

After marrying Keith Urban in 2007, Kidman was able to conceive and had her daughter Sunday Rose at the age of 41, proving there is still hope after a devastating loss. Two years later, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Faith Margaret, to the world via a surrogate. On their decision to use a gestational carrier, Kidman has said, "I couldn't get pregnant and we wanted another baby."

9 Beyoncé

Beyonce is the fabulously fierce mother of Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir. Before she welcomed her beautiful babies to the world, she suffered a painful loss in the form of a miscarriage. She has shared, "I was pregnant for the first time and I heard the heartbeat, which was the most beautiful music I ever heard in my life. I picked out names, I envisioned what my child would look like... I was feeling very maternal."

Bey continued, "I flew back to New York to get my check up...and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat. I went into the studio and wrote the saddest song I've ever written in my life [called Heartbeat]. And it was actually the first song I wrote for my album. And it was the best form of therapy for me, because it was the saddest thing I've ever been through."

The singer also opened up about miscarriage in an interview with Oprah. She stated, "There are so many couples that go through that and it was a big part of my story. It’s one of the reasons I did not share I was pregnant the second time, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. And that was hard, because all of my family and my friends knew and we celebrated. It was hard.”

8 Bethenny Frankel

Reality star and creator of Skinnygirl cocktails, Bethenny Frankel, is yet another celeb who has dealt with the devastation that occurs when a pregnancy is lost. The former Real Housewives star appeared on the Today show in February 2012 to promote the third season of her series Bethenny Ever After. On the show, she revealed that she and her then-husband, Jason Hoppy, had recently dealt with the devastating loss of a baby-to-be due to miscarriage.

She tearfully shared, "We were pregnant with a second baby and at eight weeks I miscarried. That was a very emotional experience and it had a lot of different things that came with it.”

When asked whether or not she would consider trying for another baby, Frankel admitted, “Thinking about women who can't have their own baby, even the first baby, I'm lucky…the window’s closing…I’m not sure what my options are." Bethenny has one daughter, Bryn, who is now 7 years old.

7 Christie Brinkley

Model Christie Brinkley is the mother of three beautiful children. Along with the joys that come with welcoming little ones to the world, Brinkley has dealt with her share of sorrows. Brinkley revealed in a 1998 interview with Good Housekeeping that she had suffered three miscarriages.

She shared, “After the first miscarriage, I tried to take the attitude that it was my body’s way of telling me that this pregnancy wasn’t meant to be, and that it was better for everybody. But after the second one, it was really devastating. Four months is a lot of living with that little life in you...thinking about it, eating right for it, nurturing it and all of a sudden, it dies.”

Brinkley has chosen to focus on all she's been blessed with instead of on the difficult things she's been through. She once joked, "At Thanksgiving, I always start at the top of my list and say I'm grateful for friends, family and good health. Then I get more superficial...like being thankful for my Louboutins.

6 Courtney Cox

Courtney Cox has one beautiful little one with her ex-husband David Arquette. She told People magazine in October of 2003, "I get pregnant pretty easily, but I have a hard time keeping them."

After suffering through several miscarriages and getting IVF treatments, Cox became pregnant with her daughter Coco in 2004 at the age of 40. She has admitted,"It's a fact that after a certain age you have less of a chance." Sadly, the couple's attempts to give their baby girl a sibling resulted in more miscarriages.

Cox has also revealed that it was sometimes difficult to go to work on the set of Friends and make people laugh when she was dealing with the pain of a loss. She told NBC news, “I remember one time I just had a miscarriage and Rachel was giving birth. It was like that same time. Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny.”

5 Giuliana Rancic

Giuliana Rancic has gone through her struggles with infertility in the public eye. She and her husband, Bill, documented their attempts to conceive over five seasons of their Style Network reality show, Giuliana & Bill. An IVF attempt in 2010 resulted in a pregnancy, but Giuliana lost the baby when she was only 8 weeks along. After the loss, Rancic told People magazine, "I was angry at life and at God."

During the former E! News host's third round of IVF, doctors discovered breast cancer, resulting in Giuliana undergoing a double mastectomy in December of 2011. The couple eventually decided to have a child via a gestational carrier and welcomed their son, Duke, to the world in August of 2012.

The red carpet host has been outspoken about her struggles in the hopes it will help others who are suffering. She has shared, “Hopefully we can help people understand that there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s such a taboo subject, but it’s a very common problem.”

4 Celine Dion

Celine Dion and her late husband Rene Angelil dealt with infertility challenges for six long years before finally welcoming their first son, Rene-Charles, to the world. Dion went through six more rounds of IVF after his arrival in 2001, and suffered another miscarriage, before becoming pregnant again: this time with twins! The baby boys, Eddy and Nelson, arrived in October of 2012 via C-section when Dion was 42.

Before becoming pregnant, Dion revealed in an interview with Oprah, “It’s life, you know? A lot of people go through this. We tried four times to have a child. We’re still trying. We’re on the fifth try, and I’ll tell you, if five is my lucky number, this fifth try has got to come in.”

Speaking of suffering a miscarriage before becoming pregnant with her twins, Dion has shared, “They said that I was pregnant, and a couple of days after, [my husband and I] were not pregnant again. We didn't want to feel like we were playing yo-yo. 'I'm pregnant. I'm not pregnant. I'm pregnant. I'm not pregnant.' So we didn't want to do this thing. But we did have a miscarriage... I never gave up. But I can tell you that it was physically and emotionally exhausting."

3 Brooke Shields

After actress and author Brooke Shields married writer Chris Henchy in 2001, the happy couple was anxious to begin their family. Shields knew it may be difficult for her to conceive because of a previous diagnosis she had received of cervical dysplasia.

Six months after they married without becoming pregnant, the newlyweds decided to undergo IVF treatments, but Shields lost multiple pregnancies. She later shared with People magazine, "We were crushed. Up till then, I thought simply because it was time and I wanted to have a baby, it would work out."

After six more failed IVF attempts, Shields and Henchy began to become discouraged, but never gave up hope. The actress later shared, "I told myself, if it can happen once, it can happen again." On the seventh try, Shields had a pregnancy that stuck. She welcomed her first daughter Rowan in 2003, and a second little girl, Grier, in 2006.

2 Kirstie Alley

Actress Kirstie Alley has struggled with her weight for many years. Recently, the star opened up about the fact that her battle against the bulge began after a painful miscarriage that threw her for major loop. She turned to food to help her deal with loss of her baby.

She has revealed, "When the baby was gone, I just didn't really get over it. Neither did my body. I so thoroughly convinced my body that it was still pregnant after nine months, that I had milk coming from my breasts. I was still fat, I was still grieving, and I had just been told it was very possible I would never be able to have children. Fat, childless, with little hope for any future children... that's when I began to get fat.”

Since her tragic miscarriage, Alley chose to take the adoption route, and, as a result, has two beautiful children: William and Lillie.

1 Lisa Ling

Accomplished news reporter and host of OWN's Our America, Lisa Ling, opened up about her first pregnancy ending in a miscarriage on a 2010 episode of The View. Ling was only 7 weeks along when she got the devastating news that her baby was no longer alive. She shared, "I felt more like a failure than I’d felt in a very long time."

Ling continued, "We actually [hadn’t] been trying that long. I don’t know that I took it as seriously as I should have because it happened so fast. But then when I heard the doctor say there was no heartbeat it was like bam, like a knife through the heart.”

Ling has since started an online community to help women dealing with pregnancy loss and other hardships. The anonymous website, called The Secret Society of Women, is a place where those who have suffered any sort of trauma, including miscarriages and affairs, can go to vent and find support.

Sources: HuffingtonPost.com, TheBump.com