CARRIE: WE ARE HAVING A RAINBOW* XMAS BABY
* That’s a child who’s conceived after a miscarriage – which PM’s wife bravely reveals she suffered earlier this year
CARRIE JOHNSON has revealed that she is pregnant with her second child and that she suffered a miscarriage earlier this year that left her ‘heartbroken’.
The Prime Minister’s wife yesterday announced they were expecting a ‘rainbow baby’ – a term for a child born to a family that has previously lost another due to stillbirth or death during infancy.
Writing on Instagram, 33-year-old Carrie said: ‘Hoping for our rainbow baby this Christmas. At the beginning of the year, I had a miscarriage which left me heartbroken. I feel incredibly blessed to be pregnant again but I’ve also felt like a bag of nerves.
‘Fertility issues can be really hard for many people, particularly when on platforms like
Instagram it can look like everything is only ever going well.
‘I found it a real comfort to hear from people who had also experienced loss, so I hope that in some very small way sharing this might help others too.’
She illustrated her statement with a picture of a Christmas tree decoration in the shape of a blue pram, which is understood to be an acknowledgement of when the child is due.
The child will be Boris Johnson’s seventh, and his second with Carrie, following 15-monthold Wilfred.
Following Mrs John son’ s announcement, hard-Left trolls attacked the couple on Twitter, using anonymous accounts to make abhorrent and deeply offensive comments.
Labour leader Keir Starmer was among well-wishers, writing on social media: ‘Congratulations to Carrie and Boris Johnson on the happy news that they’re expecting another child. I’m very sorry to hear of Carrie’s earlier miscarriage. I’m sure that her speaking out will be of comfort to others. Every best wish to them both.’
Conservative MPs also congratulated the happy couple, with Pensions Minister Guy Opperman writing: ‘Great news for Carrie and the PM. But also good that we talk about the pain, sadness and consequences of miscarriage and baby loss.’
Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: ‘I’m so happy for them and wish them all the best.’
Yesterday’s announcement came just over two months after the couple wed in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral in front of a small group of close friends and family.
When they made their first public appearance together as a married couple – at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, in June – Mrs Johnson appeared to be showing a tiny bump.
Yesterday, she was widely praised for talking about her miscarriage, breaking a taboo around the subject.
Ruth Bender Atik of the Miscarriage Association, said it was ‘significant’ that the announcement of the birth and the loss were made at the same time.
She said: ‘When you are pregnant after a loss, it doesn’t mean that you forget the heartache or the difficulty and distress that you had before.
‘ Not everyone wants to talk about their experience of miscarriage, they may feel it is private to them or they are just not comfortable talking about it.
‘They might worry that people will say the wrong things, but also it’s important to talk about pregnancy after loss because it can be a very anxious time.’
Zoe Clark-Coates, chief executive of the Mariposa Trust, a baby l oss and bereavement charity, said people need to talk more about the ‘taboo topic’ of miscarriages.
She told BBC News: ‘If anybody of note [ speaks out], or even a TV show covers the story of baby loss, we see a real influx of people [contacting us].
‘It just means to a lot of people that it’s OK to talk about this subject. Sadly for generations, people have been told to not talk about loss or miscarriages.
‘ When people in the public eye talk about their personal
‘This helps make it OK to talk about baby loss’
losses, I think it gives a lot of people the confidence to start speaking about it and sharing their own stories.’
Mr Johnson, 57, and his ex-wife Marina Wheeler, who split in 2018, have four children together: Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20.
He also has a fifth child, Stephanie Macintyre, 12, with art consultant Helen Macintyre.
Wilfred was born in April, just weeks after Mr Johnson left hospital after spending several days in intensive care being treated for coronavirus. The couple named him Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, after their grandfathers and the hospital doctors who looked after him.
The baby will become the sixth child born to a serving Prime Minister. Before Wilfred’s birth, David and Samantha Cameron had a daughter, Florence in 2010. A decade earlier, Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, had welcomed their fourth child, Leo, while in No 10.
Last week, it was reported that Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft was writing a biography of Carrie.