'I would have felt far less alone': Tahyna Tozzi talks about the impact of newly introduced paid miscarriage leave after suffering three pregnancy losses herself
Tahyna MacManus (née Tozzi) spoke about how paid miscarriage leave would have helped her come to terms with her pregnancy losses during a candid interview on The Project on Thursday.
The 35-year-old filmmaker said the newly implemented leave is 'a huge step forward and a huge win for the loss community'.
She said the legislation - which will allow women and their partners two days leave - would have helped her after previously suffering three miscarriages.
Speaking out: Tahyna MacManus (née Tozzi) spoke about how paid miscarriage leave would have helped her come to terms with her pregnancy losses during a candid interview on The Project on Thursday
'The message under this legislation is it is okay to take that time to grieve. It is okay to look after yourself and you don't have to go back to the workplace,' she said.
Tahyna then spoke about her own experience with pregnancy loss, and revealed she suffered a miscarriage while filming her documentary, MuM Misunderstandings of Miscarriage.
'I felt like I couldn't say anything or tell anyone... For me, just the acknowledgement that what I was feeling was a loss, and the grief I was feeling and everything I was experiencing was acknowledged, and it greatly impacted me,' she explained.
Positive change: The 35-year-old filmmaker said the newly implemented leave is 'a huge step forward and a huge win for the loss community'. Pictured on The Project
She continued: 'I feel like if I had this in place at that time, certainly I would have felt far less alone.'
Tahyna has been married to Studio 10 host Tristan MacManus since 2014, and they're parents to three young children - Echo Ísolde, Oisín Lír and Tadhg Nuada.
She detailed her experience with pregnancy loss in an editorial for Marie Claire Australia in October.
Keeping it in the family: Tahyna has been married to Studio 10 host Tristan MacManus since 2014, and they're parents to three young children - Echo Ísolde, Oisín Lír and Tadhg Nuada
'When we went in to get a scan, the sonographer couldn't find anything and told me what I already knew - I had lost the pregnancy. From that moment, I went into such a grief-stricken place,' she said of her first miscarriage.
Tahyna said she was 'so broken' and spiralled down into a 'rabbit hole' filled with 'feelings of blame and shame'.
When she later suffered a second miscarriage, she said 'everything I felt the first time came flooding back'.
Making a difference: She said the legislation - which will allow women and their partners two days leave - would have helped her after previously suffering three miscarriages
'It's such a strange thing, you don't have physical evidence of a baby, and it's so hard to explain to someone the connection you have when you've been trying to have a family, how attached you get to those positive pregnancy lines,' she continued.
She added: 'It breaks you, it breaks you in so many ways'.
Tahyna concluded by saying that talking about miscarriage will help 'remove that shame that you are less of a woman if you lose a child'.
'I feel like if I had this in place at that time, certainly I would have felt far less alone,' she said of the new legislation