clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Mark Zuckerberg wants to start a conversation about miscarriages

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Kimberly White/Getty Images

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is expecting his first child, and he took the opportunity to highlight a common but little-discussed problem among aspiring parents: miscarriages.

We've been trying to have a child for a couple of years and have had three miscarriages along the way.

You feel so hopeful when you learn you're going to have a child. You start imagining who they'll become and dreaming of hopes for their future. You start making plans, and then they're gone. It's a lonely experience. Most people don't discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you -- as if you're defective or did something to cause this. So you struggle on your own.

Zuckerberg hopes that by talking about how miscarriages affected him and his wife, Priscilla Chan, he can start a conversation and help other couples feel less alone.

The couple is expecting a girl, and Zuckerberg says that "she even gave me a thumbs up 'like' with her hand, so I'm already convinced she takes after me."

Zuckerberg's deputy, Sheryl Sandberg, also struggled with difficult personal news recently: Her husband died in May. She wrote a moving Facebook post about the experience last month.