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Julia Louis-Dreyfus opens up about 'emotionally devastating' miscarriage at age 28

The star spoke candidly about her journey to motherhood in the most recent episode of her 'Wiser Than Me' podcast

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 22: Julia Louis-Dreyfus attends the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Seinfeld and Veep actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus has opened up about a miscarriage she suffered when she was 28.

During the most recent episode of her Wiser Than Me podcast, the 62 year-old actor spoke about her journey to motherhood that began after marrying her husband, Brad Hall, in 1987.

"When I was about 28, I got pregnant for the first time and I was crazy happy," she recalled. "I got pregnant easily. I felt very fertile, very womanly. And then, quite late in the pregnancy, my husband Brad and I discovered that this little foetus was not going to live."

Dreyfus said that the loss was not only "emotionally devastating," but it got even worse when she "developed an infection" that landed her in the hospital.

The 11-time Emmy winner whose paternal grandfather comes from a Jewish family in Alsace, told podcast guest and food writer Ruth Reichl how her mother, Judith Bowles, flew out to be with her and that her cooking "healed her" during her "complete nightmare".

"After a couple of days, I finally got out of the hospital and I came home to recuperate, but I wasn't allowed to get out of bed yet. I was, as they say, bedridden," Louis-Dreyfus remembered. "But my mum cooked. She made this incredible, cozy chili in a cast iron skillet with cornbread on top, in the pan. She and my husband Brad set up a little card table at the foot of the bed."

"The smell of that cornbread and the chili was so wonderful. It just filled the room and the whole house and my heart, really," she continued. "Because, here's the thing. I couldn't eat. I wasn't yet allowed to have solid food. But, it didn't matter. It was the best meal ever and I didn't even eat it. The making of it was so comforting, it was so embracing."

Looking back on it, Louis-Dreyfus said it's "one of my greatest memories around food, even though it has sort of an odd kicker, really."

Louis-Dreyfus and Hall later welcomed sons Henry Hall, 30, and Charlie Hall, 25, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2017, she later said that it was her relationship with her family and friends who helped her get through.

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