Below is the second video of Vanessa and Angela Simmons, Rev Run, Justine, Russy and Diggy Simmons on Oprah while season 3 was airing. They talk about their decision to allow a family tragedy to be documented on the series: halfway through Justine’s pregnancy, doctors discovered that their developing baby girl had an omphalocele, a birth defect that caused her organs to grow outside her body.
The devoutly religious couple decided to go ahead with the pregnancy, and on Sept. 26, 2006, Justine gave birth via C-section to a 4-lb., 5-oz. girl whom the couple named Victoria Anne. The infant died less than two hours after her birth at a hospital near the family’s Saddle River, N.J., home.
They sat down for an interview with People Magazine prior to the series premiere.
Justine: For me to get pregnant that late in my life was a miracle. The pregnancy was not easy. I didn’t eat at all. I didn’t even gain a lot of weight. For a long time the doctors couldn’t even tell [the baby’s sex], and we said we know it’s a girl. I bought everything in pink for the nursery. Everything is pink; it still is. The nursery is still upstairs.
Rev. Run: We found out that there could be a problem mid-pregnancy. The doctors told us that the baby’s organs were growing outside of the body. I’m a preacher; I’m not going to get an abortion. Our strength came from, ‘God can create miracles. This baby can be fine.’ We stopped looking at the sonogram and walked in faith.
Justine: Just me, my husband, our bishop and our pastor knew. We didn’t tell anybody else because we didn’t know how it would turn out.
Despite the fact that Rev. Run calls the baby’s death “the biggest tragedy anyone could imagine,” he insisted that MTV’s cameras capture everything.
Rev. Run: God, in my mind, gave us something to go through in front of America, so we documented it on-camera – not so much to show you sadness, but to show you how we, as ministers, would handle this tragedy. [The kids] found out on-camera. Diggy was waiting to see, ‘How’s Mommy?’ And the first words we said were, ‘The baby didn’t make it.’ ”
Justine: [After Victoria Anne’s death] my bishop recommended that I have a minute with the baby in the hospital. I looked at her and saw how pretty and peaceful she was. It didn’t feel like a goodbye to me. [Today] I can talk about it, but if I stop to literally revisit, I start crying so fast because I can go right there. Women need to know you only need to mourn quickly. Don’t try to think of [the baby’s] eyes. It doesn’t sound nice, but it will help them in the long run. I wouldn’t have been able to help my kids get to school in the morning if my husband didn’t say, ‘We have to keep moving.’ I did a lot of journaling – writing to God telling him to give me strength.
Rev. Run: Diggy might have taken it the hardest, but I didn’t let him. I had him out on the skateboard the first day. Basically we teach our kids thankfulness. We all cry, but not a long period of it. We don’t have pictures [of Victoria Anne]. We don’t look back. We don’t want the walls of our house to start crying, and everything to just crumble around us.
Justine: I’ve always wanted to adopt, and now my husband is with me. We’re doing the paperwork now and praying that God gives us the right baby girl. We celebrate life. We know Victoria is with God in a wonderful place looking down on us, and that’s probably why we have a lot of blessings going on now.
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27 Responses to “Part 2 of Oprah’s interview with “Run’s House” cast”
so sad that the baby died. love the run house
i almost cried again watching that
i know luz me too you can tell they arent acting, its all real
wiping away my tears 4 the…well i dont know how many times..God Bless the Simmons Family
We all will keep your family in our Prayers
THAT SAD YOUR BABY DIE MY BABY SIS TWIN DIE TO I BE SAD SOME TIME
CAN YOU CALL ME YES OR NO
thats so sad..
thats sad and shocking even watchen it now i’ll still cry cuz i no how that feels
I thank the entire Rev Run family for demonstrating to the world God’s enduring love, His plan, and His design for us. Through the painful event of loosing baby Victoria Anne, Rev Run and the entire family showed their faith and unwavering love of the Lord. This is why I watch the show. This is why I allow my children to watch the show. To the Simmons family: I prayed with you. I just wanted you to know.
God is love.
English Teacher, Wife, and Mother of Five- That’s me!
Thank you for this info… I better understand what happen to Victoria Anne… I love the show and thank the Simmons family for helping people to grow spiritually for this episode.. God Bless You all!!!
Im so sorrry 4 wut happened!!!! i hpe u all can pull though
It was so sad to hear what happened. Rev Run is blessed and god will always have a plan for him and his family. He is very blessed to have his 6 children today. I hope prayers will help them pull through and god bless him and his family
Oh im so sorry for your loss. you have my blessinngs. but now you have another baby girl miley.. but who could forget victoria anne. god bless you all! god is love~ megan n
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i just wanted to say that yall are in my heart i wish one day that we could met because to me we are a family yall family act just like mine their is never a daul moment in my household out of all the seasons yall are wonderful.
this makes me cry my heart goes out to you
Simmons family, I will continue to pray for your strength. You are so blessed and such a blessing to others. I love your show. Thank you for inviting me into your home and sharing the good and bad times with you.
Wife and mother of three
Be blessed
I remember crying when this happened. That broke my heart, b/c I was waiting to see the baby. But God ended up blessing yall with a beautiful adopted baby girl.
it’s so sad to have a baby pass, like that, because i know how it feels, my brother died at birth
even though i’m only 12 yrs old i do believe in god nd i believe that theres a purpose 4 the things that god does nd i kno 4 a fact that he is blessing the whole simmons family nd watchin over them
that was so sad dat dere baby girl died, i remember watchin that episode of runs house.
i kno how it feels i lost and newborn 4 months into it ii prayed everie nite since than i talked 2 ma 1st ladie (pastors wife) about and she said everiethin happens 4 a reason we dont kno y but it did dat was 10mths ago and i was 16 it was hard cause when i lost mine dat da nite i saw u lose urs i cried dat nite i think god 4 rev run cause he inspired me 2 stay strong
u r wonder rev keep doin wat yall do u guies inspire me 2 be a better christian
everytime I see this episode it always makes me cry. 🙁
dats so sad
that is sad that victoria died but u r blessed eith miley god loves u