Australian model Megan Gale has broken her silence about the private pain of losing a child through miscarriage.
In an interview with InStyle magazine, Gale discusses how she lost her baby last May at eight weeks pregnant. She explains that she went public with the experience because she wants to bring to the fore the stigma around talking about miscarriage.
The model and mother to two-year-old son, River, described how she had to fly to Milan for a TV shoot immediately after her procedure.
"There have been plenty of times in my life I've had to suck things up - but this was the most challenging time I've had to do that.
"I came home from having a procedure, hugged my boy for a few hours and had to pack a bag and go. Not being around loved ones was really hard."
It took six months for the 41-year-old and her partner, AFL player Shaun Hampson, to conceive their first child, so the pair were surprised to learn Gale was pregnant so quickly the second time.
But, she tells the magazine, "About 10 days out from my eight week scan, I just felt in my bones something wasn't right.
"I went into the scan and the obstetrician moved the ultrasound around my belly. At one point he just stopped and said he was sorry but the baby was gone.
"As hard as it is to open up about something so heartbreaking, I've done so in the hope we can all exercise a bit more sensitivity and consideration and awareness when it comes to broaching the subject of pregnancy and conception - and also perhaps giving women a little bit more strength when it comes to dealing with miscarriage and everything that surrounds it."