Shawn Johnson Announces She’s Pregnant as She Opens Up About Her Past Miscarriage
Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson and her husband, NFL player Andrew East, are expecting a baby together! The happy news comes more than a year after they suffered the heartbreak of a miscarriage, which they discussed in a video announcing Johnson’s pregnancy on Thursday, April 4.
The gold medalist initially shared the baby news via social media, posting a photo of East standing behind her and pointing to her stomach. She captioned the pic with a note to their little one, who already has an Instagram account: “@theeastbaby … we cannot WAIT to welcome you to the world and shower you with love. @andrewdeast WE DID IT!” She then directed fans to a YouTube video they made to talk about their experience with pregnancy and miscarriage.
In the video, which they recorded back in February, the couple shared the results of Johnson’s pregnancy test and opened up about their journey to that point. “We’re pregnant! I’m pregnant. I don’t know how you say that,” Johnson said, smiling, before turning to East to ask, “Is it we or I?”
East admitted he’s not sure, saying they have a lot to learn about their new situation. “A year and a half ago, we went through something rather traumatic,” he explained. “Shawn did, specifically, and we had a miscarriage. And so this baby has been a long time coming, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
After discussing the signs that led Johnson to believe she was pregnant and then revealing how she told East — at a pizza night with friends, no less — the couple shared their joy, but also their fears, over growing their family. “Someone asked me the other day, is it hard trying after we had a miscarriage? I’ve never really voiced any hesitation with trying again, but yeah, I’m absolutely terrified,” Johnson began.
“It’s natural for anybody who’s experienced pain or loss to guard their heart when things happen again,” she continued. “I can naturally feel that my heart is just guarding itself. Because I don’t want to go through that again. I was so new and naive to the situation that it was just raw emotion. I wasn’t…guarding myself at all from the what-ifs, I was just all in. I’m obviously all in now, but I hope I’m able to let that guard down a little bit.”
East sweetly reassured her. “You’re gonna be an awesome mom,” he said, adding that there’s no one else he’d want by his side for this journey.
“You’re gonna be an awesome dad,” she replied. “You’re gonna be the best dad in the world.”
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(Photo via Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)
