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Tori Spelling responds to backlash over pretend pregnancy announcement

The "Beverly Hills, 90210" star" posted a fake pregnancy photo as an April Fools' Day prank.
/ Source: TODAY

Tori Spelling is clearing the air after her April Fools' Day joke about being pregnant caused a backlash.

The former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star pretended to have a baby bump in an Instagram photo she shared Thursday, which she captioned "No. 6."

While many fans congratulated Spelling, 47, in the comments of her post, others were suspicious about the timing of her announcement. They told Spelling that April Fools' Day jokes about pregnancy can be hurtful to those who have a lost a child or experienced infertility issues.

"I really hope you aren’t using a pregnancy as an April fools joke considering there are so many women out there who wish they could have just one child. You have been blessed with 5, please have compassion and empathy. This is nothing to joke about!" wrote one.

"If it’s an april fools joke it is utterly distasteful for all those women who suffer miscarriages," remarked another.

Spelling, who shares five children with husband Dean McDermott, followed up Friday by explaining that her pretend pregnancy announcement was meant to mock the media for speculating about her expecting "yet another" child.

"Every week, magazine and press outlets ask if I am pregnant. To set the record straight, I am not," she wrote in a message on Instagram. "The fact is, after my fifth baby, my body didn't bounce back like it had before. That's when the constant questions of 'yet another' pregnancy first began. Unless you're in the public eye, it is hard to understand what it feels like to be body shamed so publicly. I feel like I have to constantly defend my body when instead, I should be honoring it for the miracle of life it game me five times."

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Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott pose with their children in August 2018.Michael Tran / FilmMagic

Spelling also revealed that she's suffered a miscarriage in the past, and said she would never intentionally hurt anyone who's experienced pregnancy loss or been unable to get pregnant.

"I know that pregnancy is an extreme blessing. And I would never intentionally poke fun at losing a child or not being able to carry one. I myself have miscarried," she explained. "My post was simply to turn the tables for once on the press. They constantly create wild and often hurtful stories about me, my body, and my family."

"For those of you that are hurt, I hear you. I love you. I welcome your stories and I will try my best to be there to support you. Please accept this as a virtual hug to my entire community," she added.

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