Entertainment
Rochelle Humes reveals making Black Maternity Scandal doc was ‘super triggering’: ‘Nobody’s listening’
Rochelle Humes has opened up on her new documentary about why black women are more likely to die in childbirth, admitting it was ‘triggering’ to find women’s concerns weren’t being listened to.
The presenter, 32, fronts The Black Maternity Scandal, which looks at why black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
She told The Voice: ‘We’ve heard whisperings but to hear those figures and to know that maybe everyone isn’t paranoid.
‘It’s not the way that somebody took it, that’s facts. I just felt compelled to delve more into that and look at why.’
Rochelle, who has three children with husband Marvin Humes, was first approached to make the documentary while she was pregnant with her son Blake, but previously admitted it was ‘too heavy’ to take on the topic at the time.
She added that she hopes she can use her platform to campaign for change, adding: ‘We spend a lot of our time telling women to speak up which I think puts the blame back on the black woman.
‘The problem is, if I’m not listened to, and I’m going to be seen as aggressive for speaking out because I’m in pain – why would I speak up?
‘Nobody’s listening and I think that is what it kept coming back down to.’
As well as the women that die in maternity and childbirth, Rochelle also focused on those that had ‘near misses’, who aren’t counted in the statistics.
Rochelle explained: ‘It’s the most traumatic thing, super triggering, these women very nearly died.
‘Thank goodness they didn’t, but for women you’ll see in the documentary, they’re not accounted for and that baffles me.’
Rochelle is hoping the documentary will spur change in the government, starting with targets to reduce the number of deaths of black women in pregnancy.
The Black Maternity Scandal airs on Channel 4 on Monday (March 29) at 8pm.
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