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Bode Miller and his wife open up about daughter's drowning in exclusive interview

Bode Miller and his wife Morgan Beck Miller are warning other parents about how quickly tragedy can strike.
/ Source: TODAY

Bode Miller and his wife are opening up for the first time publicly about the devastating drowning of their 19-month-old daughter, warning other parents about how quickly tragedy can strike.

“It’s unbelievable quick,” the former Olympic skier said in a preview of the exclusive conversation with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie. “You'd think it'd be some weird circumstance or some strange thing. And it's not. It just happens in the blink of an eye.”

Miller and his wife, professional beach volleyball player Morgan Beck Miller, lost their daughter, Emeline, last month after she fell into a neighbor's pool.

Although her family was nearby, the young girl slipped through a back door. She was discovered in a pool a short time later and rushed to a hospital. She passed away the next day.

“A child under 30 pounds can drown in 30 seconds,” Beck Miller said. “And I just keep counting to 30 in my head. That was all I needed.”

Both parents initially shared the news through social media. They have since shared several posts about their daughter, hoping to prevent similar tragedies. They also have worked to start a campaign to raise money for water safety education charities.

On TODAY, Beck MiIller encouraged people to scan their surroundings whenever they visit someone’s home.

“Survey the home to see if it's a safe place for your child to be,” she said.

Savannah said her interview with the couple, who also have a 3-year-old son and are expecting a third child in October, completely changed her thinking around children and pool safety.

"They’re speaking out at the depths of their grief and they’re doing it because they want to get the word out to other parents," she said Friday about her discussion.

"They are very careful parents. We all think, 'Oh, but it wouldn’t happen to me,' or, ‘Here’s the reason it wouldn’t happen to me,'" she said. "They are an example of, it could happen to everyone. And we need to change our thinking around this."

The full interview will air Monday on TODAY.