Alexandra Breckenridge Drew On Her Personal Experience To Play The Heartbreaking Miscarriage Scene

Summary

• Virgin River Season 5 had one of the most emotional television moments of the year.
• Protagonist Mel Monroe suffered a miscarriage in the midst of a devastating wildfire.
• The scene was especially heart-piercing thanks to Alexandra Breckenridge's brilliant performance.
• The actress recently shared that it was based on her personal traumatic experience of almost losing a child.

Let's face it, Virgin River Season 5 Part 1, which arrived on Netflix in September, left a strong impression on us all. It was probably one of the most emotional television experiences we've had this year.

The suspense and drama peaked in Episode 5, Trial by Fire, when protagonist Mel Monroe suffered a miscarriage in the midst of a terrible wildfire that threatened our beloved Northern California town.

Mel knew that those closest to her, including her husband-to-be Jack Sheridan, were busy putting out fires and tending to the injured. So she allowed herself only a few seconds of visible grief, then put her emotions on hold until she knew the fire crisis was over.

The brevity and subtlety of that moment struck a chord with us, and was especially soul-stirring because of Alexandra Breckenridge's brilliant performance, which turned out to come from a very personal place.

Breckenridge understands the loss of a child

The Virgin River star recently opened up to Deadline about the emotional scene, revealing that she was actually reliving her traumatic past rather than acting.

'I didn't have to do a lot of quote unquote, acting, so to speak. In that moment, it was all just very real to me,' Breckenridge recalled. 'One of my children was very, very sick when he was young and could have died so I have a personal connection and understanding of the emotional loss of a child.'

It's something every parent dreads and hopes to never have to face. Fortunately, the actress' story ended on a much more positive note than that of her on-screen counterpart. Her son is well and healthy today.

But the incident definitely left a deep wound, which the actress tapped into while performing the challenging scene.

'[I] just let myself go back to that emotional point, and how that felt, and being there with it. But then, having to pick yourself up and do something which is also kind of weirdly within the circumstances of what I had to go through at the time,' the Virgin River star said. 'I haven't talked about that yet publicly, I will eventually.'

If that doesn't prove that Breckenridge is a phenomenal actress, we don't know what will. Hopefully, her character will be able to take a break from all the drama in the new Christmas specials coming to Netflix on November 30.

Source: Deadline.