Loose Women receives 261 Ofcom complaints after discussion about Chrissy Teigen sharing pregnancy loss news

Loose Women has received 261 Ofcom complaints after holding a discussion on the show about Chrissy Teigen’s decision to share the news of her pregnancy loss on social media.

On Thursday 1 October, Teigen shared a statement online saying that she and her husband John Legend had suffered the loss of their third child after she experienced excessive bleeding during her pregnancy.

The model wrote: "We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we've never felt before,” sharing a series of black-and-white photographs showing her, Legend and the baby in hospital.

On the same day Teigen released her statement online, the panellists of ITV talk show Loose Women debated her decision to share the news of her pregnancy loss on social media.

Christine Lampard began the discussion by reading Teigen’s statement, before stating: “It’s just heart-wrenching, isn’t it?”

She then asked fellow panellist Carol McGiffin about how it felt seeing the model’s post online.

“It’s so sad, it’s absolutely tragic what has happened to her,” McGiffin responded, before saying she felt “a bit uncomfortable” looking at the pictures shared by Teigen.

“I felt like I was intruding in a way,” she said.

“I just felt like this is not really something I should be witnessing, and I’m not judging her and I’m not saying she’s wrong to do it, but I don’t know… I just think it’s such a private thing. I kind of question whether there are some things that you shouldn’t have to share on social media.”

Fellow panellist Jane Moore also questioned whether Teigen was “in the right headspace of that moment to make that decision to put it out there”.

Several people criticised the Loose Women panellists on social media for the way in which they spoke about Teigen’s decision to share her experience online.

“The way Loose Women spoke about Chrissy Teigen today was absolutely disgusting,” one Twitter user said. 

“Everybody deals with their trauma and grief differently and they shouldn’t be judged for that. Vile.”

“Wanted to have a nice lunch break but in absolute rage. How can [you] judge Chrissy on what and how she shares HER OWN stories when she is going through probably the worst time in her life,” someone else said, while another person remarked that Teigen’s post “has more than likely brought so much comfort to people going through the same”.

On 1 October, the day the Loose Women panellists held their discussion about Teigen’s pregnancy loss, the programme received 261 Ofcom complaints. 

Ofcom confirmed to The Independent that the majority of the complaints were related to the discussion about Teigen’s pregnancy loss.

The organisation added that it is currently assessing the complaints against its broadcasting rules, but has not yet decided whether to carry out an investigation.

The Independent has contacted ITV for comment.

You can contact the Miscarriage Association helpline on 01924 200799 or email the charity at info@miscarriageassociation.org.uk. The helpline is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

To contact Tommy’s midwives, you can call the charity’s pregnancy line on 0800 014 7800, open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, or email midwife@tommys.org.

To contact the helpline for Sands, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity, you can call 0808 164 3332, from 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and from 9.30am to 9.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. You can also contact the charity’s helpline team by emailing helpline@sands.org.uk. 

To enquire about video counselling with baby loss counselling charity Petals, you can call 0300 688 0068 or email counselling@petalscharity.org.