ABC/Craig Sjodin(NEW YORK) — On Dancing With the Stars Monday night, Olympian Nancy Kerrigan opened up about having six miscarriages in eight years after welcoming her son Matthew in 1996.
Kerrigan said she and her husband Jerry Solomon eventually had another son, Brian, in 2005 after in vitro fertilization treatments.
“It was really hard,” she told her dance partner Artem Chigvintsev in a video created for the show. “It almost felt shameful I think, because I couldn’t do it on my own,” she added while Chigvintsev consoled her as she began.
Kerrigan also spoke about the first time a doctor told her that she had miscarried, calling the situation “devastating.”
Kerrigan and her husband later welcomed daughter Nicole in 2008.
“We fought hard for this family and I wanted to say to my kids through this dance, ‘Never give up,'” she said in the prepared video package. “Keep trying.”
After her dance, the judges praised Kerrigan for being so open and honest.
“You have that incredible vulnerability that lies just beneath the surface of this incredible courage,” Carrie Ann Inaba said. “You really touch me and I think you touch everybody else.”
Kerrigan and her partner scored a 33 out of 40 on Monday night’s show.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.