This story was updated on September 25, 2017.
After Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder faced backlash on social media and in the press for their story about Ian throwing out Nikki's birth control pills, Nikki took to Twitter to set the record straight.
"To anyone who has been affected by reproductive coercion, we are sorry," begins a statement released by the couple on Saturday via Nikki's Twitter account. "This is an extremely serious issue, and women's rights is something that is incredibly important to us." (According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, reproductive coercion is when a person strips their partner of the ability to control their own reproductive system, including sabotaging birth control methods.)
However, the couple took issue with allegations that their story counted as reproductive coercion. "We never expected a lighthearted interview we did poking fun at EACH OTHER and how WE chose together to get pregnant...to turn into something representing a very serious narrative," they wrote. And while they write that they are "grateful" that their interview seemed to raise awareness of the very serious issue, they emphasize that they should not be faces of that topic. "We are two happily married people who chose TOGETHER to have a baby. The end."
Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder welcomed their first child, a daughter named Bodhi, in late July. While blissed-out Instagram posts from both Ian and Nikki indicate the couple couldn't be more thrilled to be new parents, Nikki recently revealed some news about their decision to conceive that made us do a double take.
"[He] threw out all my birth control pills," Nikki said during a recent interview on Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy podcast. (Nikki laughed about it, but…) Ian chimed in to explain himself. "We decided that we wanted to have children together, and it was just time. But unbeknownst to poor Nikki, she didn't realize that I was going to go in her purse and take out her birth control," he said. "By the way, it was the beginning of the pack, so I had to pop all those suckers out."
Related: Ian Somerhalder Just Broke His 'Month Of Silence' To Post An Adorable Tribute To New Mom Nikki Reed
Ian says he has a six-minute video of Nikki "freaking out" as he flushed the pills down the toilet. "Actually, now thinking about it, I guess I kind of decided [to start a family]," he said.
Now let's take a minute to unpack that: Having a child should be a decision that you and your partner make together, and it sounds like Nikki and Ian did just that. But, even then, the timeline of when you'll actually begin trying to conceive should be something that you both agree on.
Watch men answer questions about birth control (spoiler alert—they're clueless):
When it comes to birth control pills, it should be a woman’s choice when she decides to take them or stop taking them. While Nikki and Ian seem to find the whole thing funny now, Ian flushing her pills without her consent is kind of messed up. Just sayin'.
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During the podcast, Nikki also revealed she struggled with whether she wanted to give birth at home or in a hospital. "The birth that I always wanted was a home birth with no lights, no one talking, no intervention of any kind," she said. "I wanted to be peaceful, quiet, alone." But ultimately, she ended up deciding to have Bodhi in a hospital.
Related: Nikki Reed Just Broke Her 'Month Of Silence' With This Badass Post About Postpartum Recovery
The couple also decided to take 30 days just for themselves after their daughter was born. "Just the three of us, no visitors, and we're turning off our phones too, so there's no expectation for us to communicate,” Nikki told Fit Pregnancy before her daughter was born. Otherwise, every five minutes it would be, 'How are you feeling? Can we have a picture?' You don't get those first 30 days back, and we want to be fully present."
