News | Entertainment
19 Dec 2025 15:41
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Entertainment

    Jodie Turner-Smith opted for a home birth because she feared she'd die in hospital

    The 'Queen & Slim' actress and her husband Joshua Jackson welcomed a baby girl into the world in April, and long before medical facilities began changing their processes due to the coronavirus pandemic, they knew they wouldn't be attending a hospital because of the statistics on "negative birth outcomes" for black women in the US


    Jodie said: "We had decided on a home birth because of concerns about negative birth outcomes for black women in America - according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of pregnancy-related deaths is more than three times greater for black women then for white women, pointing, it seems to me, to systemic racism.

    "We never imagined that in the coming weeks, hospitals around the country would begin restricting who could be present in the birthing rooms, forcing mothers to deliver without the support person or people of their choice. Delivering at home ensured I had what every single woman deserves to have; full agency in determining my birth support."

    The last few months have also seen a wave of Black Lives Matters protest in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police and while Jodie worries about having to discuss the subject with her daughter one day, she's hopeful change is on the horizon.

    She wrote in the new issue of Britain's Vogue magazine: "While my husband has been learning how to change diapers and I've been learning to breastfeed a newborn, the world has been reckoning with tragedy.

    "As a mother, I Feel everything more deeply and I honestly cannot bring myself to watch the video of George Floyd's death, to hear him crying out the word 'Mama as a police officer knelt on his neck until the life left his body. How do I prepare my daughter for the pain of seeing black bodies senselessly cut down? How do I help her reconcile Sandra and Breonna and Elijah and Eric and Philando and and and...

    "Sometimes I Wonder how I will explain to my daughter what it meant to be born in the year 2020.

    "The historic events, the social unrest and me - a new mother just trying to do her best.

    "I think I will tell her it was as if the world had paused for her to be born. And that, hopefully, it never quite returned to the way it was before."

    © 2025 Bang Showbiz, NZCity

     Other Entertainment News
     19 Dec: Gwyneth Paltrow thinks she's been "really lucky" in her career
     19 Dec: Cynthia Erivo enters therapy after shooting a film
     19 Dec: Kimberly Wyatt never wanted to raise a family in Los Angeles - and the Anglophile singer now considers the UK to be her true home
     19 Dec: Miley Cyrus says touring is a "pretty isolating" and draining experience for artists
     19 Dec: Olivia Wilde is releasing a charity necklace to help victims of the California wildfires
     19 Dec: Russell Crowe on the reappraisal of Master and Commander and its masculinity
     19 Dec: Christina Aguilera says her daughter prefers her as a "no-makeup mama"
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    The Black Ferns will have a female coach for the first time in the professional era More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    New Zealand fruit's flying offshore - with exports hitting a record high More...



     Today's News

    Rugby League:
    Warriors breakthrough forward Eddie Ieremia-Toeava has committed to the club through to 20-28 15:27

    Entertainment:
    Gwyneth Paltrow thinks she's been "really lucky" in her career 15:20

    Netball:
    A former New Zealand men's netball skipper and commentator doesn't think all the public scrutiny on Dame Noeline Taurua this year means she won't return in 20-26 14:57

    Entertainment:
    Cynthia Erivo enters therapy after shooting a film 14:50

    Hamilton:
    Police are calling for help in their Hamilton homicide investigation 14:47

    Entertainment:
    Kimberly Wyatt never wanted to raise a family in Los Angeles - and the Anglophile singer now considers the UK to be her true home 14:20

    Law and Order:
    Tears and cheers as the man who murdered five people when he set fire to Wellington's Loafers Lodge in 2023 is sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years 14:07

    Entertainment:
    Miley Cyrus says touring is a "pretty isolating" and draining experience for artists 13:50

    Law and Order:
    Dunedin police are alerting Oranga Tamariki to the case of a man who fled from police - with a four year old 13:47

    Business:
    New Zealand fruit's flying offshore - with exports hitting a record high 13:27


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd