Monique Coleman is opening up about how her former "High School Musical" co-star Corbin Bleu supported her emotionally after she suffered a miscarriage earlier this year.
Coleman, 41, told People she experienced the pregnancy loss just before she and Bleu reunited for the upcoming Lifetime movie "A Christmas Dance Reunion." Bleu, 32, and his wife, Sasha Clements, comforted Coleman during the shooting of the film, which premieres Friday.
"I thought that I was going to be doing the movie pregnant," said Coleman. "If I was pregnant, I was excited to be with Corbin and Sasha because I knew that they would be able to carry me and hold me through that experience. And when I wasn’t, they were also able to be there for me in a way that I can’t even really describe."
In just one show of their support, Bleu and Clements lit a candle in Coleman’s honor on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on Oct. 15.
"They sent a photo and a prayer and told me that they were thinking of me," she recalled. "We were in quarantine in our respective rooms, but to be able to talk to them about that and to bond with them in this really difficult time where I’m alone in a room by myself, but not to feel alone, was just so special."
The couple's focus on her well-being meant even more to Coleman because, she said, making real friends in Hollywood can sometimes be "difficult."
"So to be with people that really can carry you on screen, but then also have respect and love for your personal well-being and mental health and emotional health, that is such a priceless experience," she said.
Coleman, who married husband Walter Jordan in 2016, previously suffered a miscarriage in August 2019.
The actor, singer and dancer processed her emotions, in part, in a moving performance video she posted on Instagram at the time. In the video, titled "Unborn," Coleman is seen dancing through an emotional routine created by choreographer Bonnie Story.
"I pray that this piece promotes brave conversation & healing and above all makes our spirit baby proud," she wrote in her caption.