Corrie star Jane Danson has opened up about the heartache of going through a 'missed miscarriage'. The Bury actress, who plays Leanne Battersby in the ITV soap, has told how she experienced the loss of a baby in the past and says the 'pain' of her ordeal will stay with her forever.
Jane, 43, who has played Coronation Street favourite Leanne since 1997, has spoken out about her devastating loss during Baby Loss Awareness Week. The star, who is married to Brookside, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actor Robert Beck, says a three month scan showed there was no heartbeat. However her body "continued to be pregnant for some time."
She received a raft of support as she shared her story in a moving Instagram post. The pain of having a ‘missed miscarriage’ will stay with me forever," she typed.
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"My 3 months scan showed there was no heartbeat yet my body continued to be pregnant for some time. It was devastating.
"The worst thing that I did was not talk about what i was going through and somehow it made the heartache even more painful. In time I learnt to talk and express just how broken I felt."
Jane, who has two sons Harry, 16, and Sam, 13, with Robert, says the support of her nearest and dearest has helped her to heal. "With the love of my husband @robertbeck529 and support from my friends and family I began to heal. Sending love to anyone suffering," she wrote. And she added: "#waveoflight #babylossawarenessweek #babyloss."
Jane previously told of her heartbreak in 2018. Speaking to OK! Magazine about her loss she said: "It was heartbreaking and it took us a long time to get over it – I don’t think you ever do. There will always be that sadness there and there’ll always be that desire, but we’re getting older now and the boys are growing up."
She added: "Sometimes you just have to appreciate what you have." Jane and Rob met at the Soap Awards in 1999 when he was starring in Emmerdale as Gavin Ferris. Jane, who had a crush on him since she was 15, plucked up the courage to go over and introduce herself.
In 2017 Jane was at the centre of a harrowing storyline which saw her character give birth to Steve McDonald’s baby after he and his wife Michelle lost their baby boy at 23 weeks of pregnancy. In real-life Kym Marsh, who plays Michelle, had been through the tragic loss of her son Archie at 21 weeks of pregnancy and Simon Gregson, who plays Steve, and his wife Emma had suffered 11 miscarriages.
And the hard-hitting storyline was also particularly close to Jane's heart. Speaking on the ITV chat show Loose Women about the soap story she said: “We’d all had that experience and been through it in various different ways and could relate to it.”
Leanne battled to keep her feelings in check as a new mum after Michelle discovered the truth that Steve had fathered a baby with another woman. Michelle punched Leanne hard in the face after he blurted out the truth at the baby welcoming celebration in the Corrie bistro and demanded a divorce.
Speaking about her own emotions at losing a baby, Jane said: “I am emotional person but that was something I chose to keep to myself. “Then this storyline came up. We knew after what we’d been through it would be tough.”
Then in 2020 Jane won high praise again over another harrowing storyline as Leanne's three-year-old son Oliver was diagnosed with a life-limiting form of mitochondrial disease and she embarked on a gutsy battle to force the hospital to keep him alive. In heart-wrenching scenes she eventually decided to give up her appeal to stop his life support from being switched off and she and Steve were by his side as he passed away.
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