Nancy Kerrigan always wanted to be a mother, but her journey to completing her family wasn’t an easy one.
The figure skater revealed on Monday night’s episode of Dancing With the Stars that after marrying her husband Jerry Solomon in 1995 and welcoming their son Matthew in 1996, she suffered six miscarriages in eight years before giving birth to son Brian in 2005 through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
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“Since I was 10 years old, I always wanted to have three kids by the time I was 30, sort of like what my mom had done,” Kerrigan explained in a video that aired before her performance.
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After welcoming Matthew, she brought him on tour with her as she transitioned into professional skating following her silver medal win at the 1994 Olympics. The couple soon tried for another child, leading to Kerrigan’s heartbreaking miscarriages.
“The first time that you go in and they tell you, ‘Oh there’s no heartbeat,’ it’s devastating,” PEOPLE reports Kerrigan as saying of suffering “at least” six miscarriages in the years after having Matthew. “I felt like a failure.”
“We had a good life,” she said in the clip, “but I had that vision in my head since I was such a small kid.”
“It almost felt shameful, I think, because I couldn’t do it on my own,” she told dance partner Artem Chigvintsev.
The couple then turned to IVF to welcome son Brian, and Kerrigan went through the treatment again before giving birth to daughter Nicole in 2008.
“We fought hard for this family, and I want to say to my kids through this dance, never give up. Keep trying,” she said. “If you have hope in your heart, you can persevere.”
[H/T Getty / David Livingston, YouTube / Dancing With the Stars]
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