EMOTIONAL Rochelle Humes shared her anger over black women dying in labour ahead of her Channel 4 Dispatches documentary tonight.
The 32-year-old star fronts The Black Maternity Scandal, an investigation into why there is a much higher mortality rate for black and mixed race women than white women when giving birth.
The mother-of-three discussed the show on ITV News this afternoon, where she said: “The data doesn’t lie and that’s what we’re dealing with, there is really a level of not listening – not listening to the pain. We spend a lot our of time telling people to speak up, but are we listening?”
Visibly emotional, Rochelle went on: “It shocked me, it angered me – it’s what you would hope would be the unthinkable. But sadly it isn’t, and I’ve met so many different brave and inspiring women who have spoken to me.
“How long can this go on for? The gap has risen and widened for as long as this data has been collected.
“The interesting thing in the way the data is collected is it doesn’t account for those near misses, so speaking up is one thing but without putting the blame back on women we must all be here to listen.”
Rochelle previously admitted that she was horrified to learn that black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
She gave birth to her third child, first son Blake, in October 2020, with the star also mum to six-year-old Alaia-Mai and four-year-old Valentina with husband Marvin Humes.
Filming was delayed due to her pregnancy as she found the topic “too heavy” to shoot while expecting.
The TV favourite was previously forced to defend taking on the role of host after being accused of “replacing” Candice Brathwaite.
Fans were outraged after Candice tweeted that she had lost out on a job to a “lighter-skinned black woman more than once in the last six months” – but didn’t name who.
Candice had campaigned about the higher maternal mortality in black women for years after she almost died giving birth to her daughter when she experienced septic shock.
In a lengthy Instagram statement, Rochelle responded to the backlash – insisting: “I want to utilise my platform to add further reach and visibility to this ongoing issue, with the sole intention of creating broader awareness to affect change.”
Channel 4 added in a statement: “It is completely untrue that Rochelle Humes replaced Candice Brathwaite on this film.
“Rochelle was the only presenter attached to the project. Candice was approached to be interviewed but declined.”
- Dispatches: The Black Maternity Scandal airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4
