Julia Louis-Dreyfus Traumatic Miscarriage

On Tuesday’s (April 25th) episode of her Wiser Than Me podcast, Julia Louis-Dreyfus spoke with food writer Ruth Reichl about an “emotionally devastating” miscarriage she had when she was 28—and how food became a source of comfort for her at the time.

“When I was about 28, I got pregnant for the first time and I was crazy happy. 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 fetus was not going to live,” the Seinfeld star said. “So that was emotionally devastating, as you can imagine, but it got worse because I developed an infection that landed me in the hospital.”

Following the “complete nightmare” that left her hospitalized for days, Dreyfus said she was “as they say, bedridden” when she returned home. “But my mom cooked. She made this incredible, cozy chili in a cast iron skillet, with cornbread on top in the pan. And she and my husband Brad set up a little card table at the foot of the bed. And the smell of that cornbread chili was so wonderful — it just filled the room and the whole house and my heart, really.”

The Veep actress added that while she “couldn’t eat” the meal because she “wasn’t allowed to have solid food,” she found it to be “so comforting” and “so embracing.”