Michelle Duggar has my respect, tenfold.

Recently, Michelle Duggar announced that she had suffered a miscarriage with her 20th child. This news brought tears to my eyes. 

Just last week I was wondering about celebrities and miscarriage. We hear almost daily about celebrities getting pregnant or having babies. We also hear about the more-than-real challenges they face, most recently Guilana Rancic and her battle with cancer, as well as her fertility problems (which is what got me thinking). But we never hear about female celebrities who suffer a miscarriage.  

The statistics about miscarriage do not lie, which means that some female star who has managed to grace the cover of 1 or 2 magazines must have had to have endured this pain, right? 

Michelle Duggar and her family gained media attention because of her much larger-than-normal family. Many people pass judgment on her family, resigning to their opinions of the idea that a woman should not have that many babies. However, think about this: Michelle and Jim-Bob Duggar have raised extremely self-sufficient, educated children. They all play an instrument, understand that chores have to be done on time and have a purpose, and have strong convictions about what they believe. In all of the 20-something years that Michelle and Jim-Bob have been raising children, they have never once asked the government to pay for the care of their children. If they cannot afford something, they do not buy it. It's as simple as that. 

The judgments came back full-force after the announcement of Michelle's 20th baby, especially since her 19th child was born premature. But true to Duggar form, they embraced this pregnancy with as much love as if they were announcing their very first pregnancy all over again. They know that children are gifts from God.

It angered me when I read this media report about her miscarriage, linking miscarriage with older women rather than an unfortunate, natural thing. In my group of friends, 6 of us have had 8 miscarriages between us. We were all younger than 32 when they happened.

Michelle Duggar is brave, strong woman. Not only does she have to go through the heartbreak of losing a child so far into her pregnancy, but she has to do it in the media spotlight. I am thankful that she is willing to do this. I wish more celebrities would.