News | Entertainment
20 Dec 2025 18:23
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
     20 Dec: Sharon Osbourne considered sending Roger Waters a box of her poop after he mocked her dead husband Ozzy
     20 Dec: Gary 'Mani' Mountfield is set to be laid to rest on December 22 in Manchester
     20 Dec: Tate McRae has felt overwhelmed by the scrutiny she's faced
     20 Dec: Ethan Hawke writes all of his lines by hand
     20 Dec: Jelly Roll "could feel [himself] dying" before embarking on his weight-loss journey
     20 Dec: Sydney Sweeney felt a "bittersweet emptiness" after she finished filming Christy
     20 Dec: Teyana Taylor has always dreamed of achieving "great things"
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    A steep challenge juggling a busy calendar for incoming Black Ferns head coach Whitney Hansen More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle has shed light on the challenge sports administrators face between balancing transparency and confidentiality More...



     Today's News

    Entertainment:
    Sharon Osbourne considered sending Roger Waters a box of her poop after he mocked her dead husband Ozzy 18:20

    Boxing:
    Live updates: Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua, Netflix boxing match in Miami 18:16

    Politics:
    Festive season spending's being hampered for women, who are effectively now working for free 18:06

    Law and Order:
    A first look through the Epstein files reveals celebrity snaps, police notes and a lot of Bill Clinton 18:06

    Entertainment:
    Gary 'Mani' Mountfield is set to be laid to rest on December 22 in Manchester 17:50

    Rugby:
    A steep challenge juggling a busy calendar for incoming Black Ferns head coach Whitney Hansen 17:46

    Cricket:
    Daryl Mitchell has his fourth test wicket 17:26

    Entertainment:
    Tate McRae has felt overwhelmed by the scrutiny she's faced 17:20

    Accident and Emergency:
    Emergency services are at the scene of a serious two-vehicle crash on State Highway One in Northland's Kaiwaka 16:56

    Entertainment:
    Ethan Hawke writes all of his lines by hand 16:50


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd