Katherine Ryan has said suffering a miscarriage this year made her feel “embarrassed and shameful”.

The Canadian stand-up and actress, 36, said she had been surprised by the lack of information that was available to women.

Ryan recently revealed, during an interview with Lorraine Kelly, that she had a miscarriage at 10 weeks in February.

The Global Awards 2020 with Very.co.uk – Arrivals – London
Laura Whitmore (Lia Toby/PA)

Appearing on Love Island host Laura Whitmore’s CASTaway podcast, she said: “I know it can be a very lonely experience, and it’s shrouded in all this embarrassment.

“I felt embarrassed and shameful, not that I had the loss, but I felt embarrassed for getting excited before the loss.

“I felt all these things, and I looked for stories and I really couldn’t find many of them.

“I think it needs to be on the curriculum, I think girls need to know that you can have this secret silent miscarriage.

“I’m 36, I thought I was very well-versed on women’s issues. I genuinely didn’t know that a miscarriage can happen in this way.

“So I think, the more women who tell their stories about this and so many issues, and the intimacy of doing that through a podcast was important for me to share that, even if it helps one person.”

Jonathan Ross Halloween party
Katherine Ryan and Bobby Kootstra (Yui Mok/PA)

The star recently entered a civil partnership with her childhood sweetheart Bobby Kootstra, after rekindling their relationship following 20 years apart.

She has a daughter, Violet, from a previous relationship.

“I love Bobby more and more every day, I really do,” she said.

“And I was super anti-conformity, I hated the idea that for generations our ancestors, I do feel a connection to my female ancestors, especially, I feel this collective ancestral trauma that we weren’t legally people for a very long time.

“You were your father’s property and then you were your husband’s property, you weren’t allowed to open a bank account, you weren’t allowed to have a job, you weren’t allowed to carry a passport, you weren’t allowed to buy a house.

“And I felt like I’m the first woman in my family who’s done all those things alone, and that’s why I really rejected the idea that you should get married.

“However, if you choose to get married, that’s fine. Luckily I did. I really love him and luckily it’s going great, I don’t know how I dated so many waste men before.”

Laura Whitmore’s CASTaway podcast is available on all major podcast platforms.