Childbirth is perhaps one of the most profound physical, emotional, and mental experiences any person can go through. More than 3 million women in the United States get to experience this ordinary miracle every year. The good news is that for most of them, childbirth is a story that ends with the happy announcement that "mom and baby are doing great" and the pain of childbirth starts to become a distant memory. But unfortunately, sometimes scary and even life-threatening complications can happen that remind us that childbirth isn't always risk-free.
Childbirth complications can include everything from the dangerously high blood pressure that can come with preeclampsia to perineal tears to excessive bleeding or hemorrhages following delivery. The scary thing about childbirth complications is that even the healthiest moms who have had the easiest pregnancies might still have unexpected complications.
Because pregnancy can be a great equalizer (no matter how famous someone might be, leaky boobs and swollen ankles can happen to anyone), even some famous celebrity moms have experienced serious childbirth complications. Here, we've gathered birth stories from 15 of them.
Serena Williams
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is famously a celebrity who does not love being pregnant, and it really makes sense when we remember how challenging her pregnancies were. She suffered from placenta accreta, a condition that causes her placenta to grow too deeply into the uterus, which can result in significant blood loss after delivery and the need to have the placenta manually removed.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé is an icon of music and fashion, but even she had a rough experience when it came to the birth of her twins, Sir and Rumi. She got candid with Vogue in 2018, revealing, "I was swollen from toxemia and had been on bed rest for over a month. My health and my babies' health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU." Thankfully all are healthy and happy now!
Tori Spelling
Actress Tori Spelling, a mother of five kids, suffered a serious complication with her fourth pregnancy. With her son Finn, she endured 10 weeks in the hospital and months on bed rest following a diagnosis of placenta previa, which causes internal bleeding and can threaten the life of the mother and baby. Tori eventually had an emergency C-section, but both thankfully made it through OK.
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is the mother of twins who are now 11 years old and, according to her, are "the two greatest blessings" in her life. She faced multiple complications during the pregnancy, including gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and early-term labor resulting in an emergency C-section.
Scheana Shay
Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay welcomed daughter Moon Honey Davis in 2021, but she had some very scary moments after the birth. "Almost 24 hours after being induced, my blood pressure was extremely elevated. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia, which has now turned into HELLP syndrome," she posted on Instagram at the time. "My doctor said I was lucky, and we caught this just in time to treat, as it's very unusual to be caught so late in postpartum. Until this morning, I was on a magnesium drip that made me extremely lethargic and flu-like, shivering uncontrollably to the point where I felt like I was seizing. Having not caught this condition in time, that would have been likely."
Zoe Saldana
Another celeb mom of twins who had challenging childbirth complications is actress Zoe Saldana. She delivered her sons via emergency C-section when she was only 32 weeks pregnant. "They found protein in my urine; my platelets crashed. I didn't qualify for an epidural, so I delivered under general anesthetic. I didn't even meet them until a day later," she revealed to Allure (via People). Zoe would go on to have another son two years later, but fortunately it was a much easier experience for her the second time around.
