‘Don’t know how I’m surviving’: Emilie Kiser’s pregnancy battle after loss
Influencer Emilie Kiser says she is “constantly heartbroken” during her pregnancy, nearly a year and a half after the death of her three-year-old son, Trigg.
The American, 27, addressed her more than five million TikTok followers in a vulnerable video, admitting she rarely speaks publicly about her grief after her son died in a pool accident.
Emilie Kiser announced in July that she and husband Brady were expecting another baby. Instagram @emiliekiser
“I lost my son almost a year and a half ago, and I don’t talk about my grief very often at all on social media,” she said.
“It’s just become almost like this shield for me to, like, shutdown and not talk about it on here.”
Kiser’s son Trigg died in May 2025 after falling into the family’s backyard pool in Arizona.
The three-year-old was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and died six days later, on May 18, as confirmed by the Maricopa County medical examiner.
Kiser was not home at the time of the accident.
The influencer and her husband, Brady Kiser, announced in July they were expecting another child. The couple is also parents to son Teddy.
“This news feels very surreal and has already been such a bright light to us during some of our darkest days,” she said at the time.
But Kiser said the pregnancy has brought with it a difficult mix of emotions.
“Constantly, every day I’m just hit with this reality that this is my life and that I can’t believe that this is my life. I don’t think the shock of losing my son will ever go away,” she said.
“I don’t expect it to and I don’t want it to; it just constantly hits me that I don’t know how I’m surviving.”
Kiser’s three-year-old son Trigg died in May 2025 following an accident at the family’s Arizona home. Instagram/@emiliekiser
“I am just mentally having such a hard time with this pregnancy, and it’s not because I’m struggling physically,” she said.
“It’s because there are so many like mental battles that come with being pregnant after losing Trigg.”
Kiser said she is grieving the fact her son is not here while, at the same time, feeling excited to welcome another baby.
There are also moments ahead she knows will be difficult, including returning to the hospital to give birth and watching Teddy meet his new sibling as those experiences that will inevitably remind her of Trigg.
“I am just constantly heartbroken that he’s not here, and I also am constantly thinking about how this next baby is going to be such a blessing to our family,” she said.
Kiser said the new baby had been a “bright light” for the family during some of their darkest days. Instagram/@emiliekiser
“We already love this baby so much.”
Kiser said she had previously found it easier to shut down rather than speak about her grief publicly, but is now trying to change that.
“I do really think that right now in my grief journey, that is what I need,” she said.
“I need to open up, and I need to talk about things when I’m feeling them.”
