Relationships

Uh, Apparently Ian Somerhalder Threw Out Nikki Reed’s Birth Control Pills To Get Her Pregnant

by Alexia LaFata
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Having a child has got to be one of the most rewarding experiences ever. Combining the power of love and some good, ol' fashioned sexual intercourse to bring a human being into the world? That's for sure at the top of the list of the coolest things a person could do, and knowing when you're ready to have this epic experience is just as important of a milestone as actually having it. Most normal couples probably figure that out by talking about it first. But Nikki Reed says Ian Somerhalder threw away her birth control pills as his way of letting her know that, yes, they were going to have kids, and they were going to have them now.

On the podcast Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancythe host asked Reed and Somerhalder, parents of 2-month-old Bodhi Soleil Reed Somerhalder, when they knew they were ready to have kids. Reed said, "When [Somerhalder] threw out all my birth control pills." Ummm?

Apparently, when the two were vacationing in Barcelona, Spain, in 2016, Somerhalder straight up dug through Reed's purse to find her birth control pack and pop out all of the pills. In an attempt to explain himself, he said, "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. By the way, it was the beginning of the pack, so I had to pop all those suckers out. There was like 25 of them. It is a lot of work, especially after a little bit of sangria."

It gets worse: Somerhalder recorded a six-minute video of Reed freaking out over her missing birth control pills and then of himself flushing them down the toilet in front of her.

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Both Reed and Somerhalder talk about this whole ordeal as if it's some hilarious, light-hearted prank. They're literally cracking up as they tell the story. But the thought of someone taking away my sexual and reproductive agency makes me panic more than anything else. Like, the government already does that enough. Can our husbands spare us? Is that so much to ask?

The most cringeworthy part about this whole story is that while Somerhalder had discussed having children with Reed on their second date, Reed's feelings about having children during that Barcelona vacation were mixed. "I didn't know if I wanted kids. I love kids, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a mom. I just didn't know," she said.

I don't know, you guys. I feel like making the choice to have a child requires both parties to be ready? Especially the party that is going to carry said child for nine months inside of her uterus and endure all the pain and bodily dysfunction that comes along with pregnancy? Am I wrong? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Twitter thinks that this story is less funny ha-ha dinner table banter and more, like, something that should never, ever happen.

Yeah, this is some seriously messed up sh*t. Reed and Somerhalder may be all giggly about this now, but something tells me Reed was not laughing about this matter back in 2016.

Let this story be a very, very clear message to everyone that it is the least OK thing in the world for your boyfriend, partner, or whomever you're dating or having sex with to coerce you into doing anything regarding your vagina or reproductive system. This includes forcing you to have sex when you don't want to, making you feel bad about not shaving your pubes, and manipulating you into getting pregnant.

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