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Dancing with the Stars' Peta Murgatroyd reveals miscarriage while husband was in Ukraine

She and husband Maks Chmerkovskiy have had multiple pregnancy losses.
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd
Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd share their experiences with pregnancy loss.David Livingston / Getty Images

A few months ago, Peta Murgatroyd collapsed on the floor and called 911. The 35-year-old Dancing with the Stars performer had recently tested positive for COVID-19, which had drained her strength and caused breathing problems. At the hospital, she learned something surprising — she was pregnant. But she immediately discovered the devastating news that she had miscarried, she told People.

"I ultimately had no idea (I was pregnant), which in hindsight was better for my recovery because I didn’t have that super joyous moment of, ‘I’m pregnant again!’" Murgatroyd told People. “I just had the moment of, ‘You lost it.’"

Harder still, husband, Maks Chmerkovskiy, 42, was in Ukraine and on the phone when the doctor delivered the news. Chmerkovskiy — who also dances on the reality competition — only heard the positive pregnancy test and felt elated before realizing they had lost the baby. Murgatroyd believes that COVID-19 made it tough for her to support the pregnancy.  

"I felt like I was dying, but then I obviously knew what happened," she told People. "It was just all too much for my body."

The couple shares son Shai, 5, and hoped for a younger sibling for him. Murgatroyd reveals she has experienced two prior miscarriages in the past two years. The first occurred in a grocery store in fall 2020 and it sparked many complicated emotions.

"I was completely embarrassed, ultimately ashamed. I didn’t even know how to utter the words and have that sentence come out of my mouth: I had a miscarriage," Murgatroyd said. "I’m somebody who prides herself on health wellness. I exercise every single day. But as I came to realize, that doesn’t really go hand-in-hand with the reproductive system."

Murgatroyd lost her second pregnancy nine months later and when she told Chmerkovskiy she "heard him get really upset."

"I never thought that two healthy, athletic people could be in a predicament like this. It’s a lot to process," Chmerkovskiy told People.

“I honestly just got sick of hiding it. I found it was harder to conceal this secret than just ‘say it how it was’ so to speak. It became harder for me to keep a happy face on,” Murgatroyd said in an Instagram post about the story. “The first time I let it out of my mouth to a colleague I felt strangely better, like a piece of shame had chipped away. So I found the more people I told, the better I felt. I came to realize that there is nothing shameful about it.”  

Murgatroyd said she has polycystic ovary syndrome, an endocrine condition that can contribute to infertility, among other symptoms. The couple is now working with fertility specialists and plan to undergo in vitro fertilization.

“For the first time in nearly two years, I feel excited,” Murgatroyd said. “I’m in a much happier place.”