Actress and comedian Chelsea Handler has said that she had two abortions when she was 16.
Handler made the revelation in an essay for Playboy magazine’s Freedom issue.
“Getting an abortion wasn’t the first idea that popped into my unripened brain. I was going through a very bad stage in my life,” Handler wrote.
At first, the 41-year-old thought that she would be able to raise a child and didn’t even think about ending the pregnancy.
“I hated my parents and I was having unprotected sex with my boyfriend, who was not someone I should’ve been having sex with in the first place, never mind unprotected sex.
“I wasn’t really playing with a full deck of cards, and when I got pregnant I just thought, ‘Why not? I can have a baby. Maybe I’ll have twins and give them rhyming names’,” she added.
While she might have thought about keeping the child, her parents had different opinions.
“Of course, the idea that I would have a child and raise it by myself at that age, when I couldn’t even find my way home at night, was ridiculous,” she said.
Handler said that she made the same mistake within the year. She got pregnant again, and struggled to pay for her second abortion.
“I had to scrape together the $230 [Dh844.5] to pay Planned Parenthood, but it was a safe abortion,” she said.
“Getting unintentionally pregnant more than once is irresponsible, but it’s still necessary to make a thoughtful decision. We all make mistakes all the time. I happened to [expletive] up twice at the age of 16. I’m grateful that I came to my senses and was able to get an abortion legally without risking my health or bankrupting myself or my family,” Handler added.
