News | Entertainment
31 Dec 2025 5:44
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
     30 Dec: Sadie Sink's modelling work has been a dream come true
     30 Dec: Venus Williams wore a dozen dresses for her wedding celebrations
     30 Dec: Jason Kelce has hinted at appearing topless at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding
     30 Dec: Venus Williams "knew" she would marry Andrea Preti after they dated in London
     30 Dec: Amy Poehler is "too scared" to invite Martha Stewart on her podcast
     30 Dec: Boy George believes "Christmas is about" over-indulgence
     30 Dec: Susan Boyle has been gifted a jacket by Timothee Chalamet
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    Nick Kyrgios has blitzed Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 across what has been coined their battle-of-the-sexes tennis match in Dubai More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    It's back to business for a refreshed Auckland FC side, following a prolonged break in the A-League More...



     Today's News

    Cricket:
    The Otago men have beaten Central Districts by 41 runs in Super Smash T20 cricket at Alexandra 5:36

    Basketball:
    To US basketball, with another bumper holiday fixture list ... and a potential injury scare for one of the NBA's leading players .. 21:57

    Living & Travel:
    MH370 vanished in 2014. A new search aims to find answers families desperately want 21:47

    Entertainment:
    Sadie Sink's modelling work has been a dream come true 21:38

    Soccer:
    Despite slumping to their biggest loss of the A-League season, the Wellington Phoenix men's coach insists they can still turn around their fortunes 21:17

    Entertainment:
    Venus Williams wore a dozen dresses for her wedding celebrations 21:08

    Entertainment:
    Jason Kelce has hinted at appearing topless at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding 20:38

    Entertainment:
    Venus Williams "knew" she would marry Andrea Preti after they dated in London 20:08

    Motoring:
    A person's been confirmed dead - after a car plunged off a bank on a notorious stretch of State Highway 2, at Tangoio, north of Eskdale and Napier, just before midday 19:47

    Entertainment:
    Amy Poehler is "too scared" to invite Martha Stewart on her podcast 19:38


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd