The Tragedy of Justine Simmons

Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and his wife Justine have had a lot of blessings in their life.

A long-lasting marriage, a big family, and a lot of career success. 

But in the mid-2000s, they were hit with the kind of tragedy that most parents think is unimaginable. 

Justine Simmons’ Baby Died 

It took a long time to recover from the heartbreaking experience, and the pair reportedly turned to their religious faith more than ever before to get through it.

But amazingly, after all their deep sorrow, they were able to find a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

According to PEOPLE, when Justine found out that she was able to get pregnant at the age of 43, she was sure that it was a miracle. 

But little did she know, this good news would later bring her an incredible amount of pain, both physically and emotionally.

In September 2006, TODAY released a sad report about how Rev Run and Justine lost their baby daughter just a few hours after she’d been born. 

The couple were still filming their hit reality TV show, MTV’s Run’s House.

Rev Run Speaks Out About Wife Justine And Tragic Loss

After receiving the sad news, Rev Run released a statement through the network to say that his wife was doing fine.  

But the public later found out that Justine was not fine at all – she was going through one of the worst moments of her life. 

In the statement, the reverend thanked his fans for all of their condolences and their prayers. 

He revealed that they’d named their daughter Victoria Anne Simmons.

And he went on to share that for some unknown reason, she’d chosen to come early, and unfortunately did not survive. 

He said: “We must accept whatever is there and once you accept unconditionally, then everything is beautiful.”

Rev Run also added that every pain had a purifying effect and gave the advice: “Whatever comes your way, just be thankful.”

How Did Justine Simmons’ Baby To Die?

The following year, PEOPLE reported on the medical reason that was most likely the cause for the couple’s daughter only living in this world for a couple of hours. 

From the start of the pregnancy, Justine knew that it was a different experience to the last times that she’d been pregnant.

The pregnancy was not easy. 

She shared that she didn’t eat at all – she didn’t even gain a lot of weight. 

For a long time, the doctors couldn’t even tell the child’s gender. 

But they claimed that they knew it was a girl. 

They’d bought everything in pink for the nursery.

Halfway through Justine’s pregnancy, she and her husband were informed that the baby had a birth defect, which meant that her organs were growing outside her body. 

The deeply religious couple told the doctors that they would continue with the pregnancy, and Justine gave birth to her 4-lb, 5-oz baby via C-section a few months later.

When he found out about his child’s defect, Rev Run told PEOPLE that as a preacher, there was no way that he’d consider terminating the baby’s life.

Rev Run’s Unwavering Faith

He said that their strength came from his Christian principles and his belief that God could create miracles and the baby could be fine.

He shared that they stopped looking at the sonogram and they ‘walked in faith.’

Over the remaining months of the pregnancy, Rev Run would wake up and pray for his baby. 

His faith was reportedly so deep that he believed that it was going to happen – his baby would be healed.

Justine revealed that it was just two of them and their pastor who knew about the child’s condition. 

They didn’t tell anybody else because they didn’t know how it’d turn out.

How Rev Run And His Family Handled The Tragedy 

The two of them had a blended family, with three children from Rev Run’s previous marriage to Valerie Vaughn, and two boys between him and Justine.

The patriarch of the family asked the MTV crew filming them at the time for Run’s House to capture the tragic incident on camera to be used on the show.

The couple’s oldest son Diggy, who was 12 at the time, was reportedly the first one to ask his dad how his mom was doing, only to be told that he would never get to meet his sister.

Rev Run shared that in his mind, God had given them all something to go through in front of America, so they documented it on-camera.

When explaining his reasoning, he said that it was not so much to show the viewers sadness, but to show them how he, as a minister, would handle that tragedy. 

Which reportedly was why his children found out the news about the baby on-camera.

Rev Run speculated that Diggy might have taken it the hardest, but he didn’t let him. 

He claimed that he had him out on the skateboard the first day. 

The reverend explained that they taught their kids thankfulness. 

Justine Simmons’ Confession 

In her interview with PEOPLE, Justine confessed that apart from her religion, it was her husband’s advice that helped her to go on.

He told her that they had to keep moving. 

She said that if he hadn’t been for that, then she wouldn’t have been able to help her kids get to school in the morning.

Her recommendation to anyone who’d been through something similar was that women needed to know they only needed to mourn quickly. 

But that was easier said than done. 

Justine Said I Was Trying To ‘… Heal My Sorrow …’

In 2020, she and Rev Run released a book titled Old School Love: And Why It Works.

A more recent report by PEOPLE revealed that in the book, the couple talked about what they’d been through and how they were able to heal.

Justine admitted that while her husband found comfort in God and being with her after the loss of Victoria, she found comfort going under the bed covers. 

She shared: “I was trying to heal my body, heal my sadness, heal my sorrow, and heal my heart… I was lonely for my child.“

Though she felt a lot of pain and sorrow, she advised readers of her book not to push those feelings away. 

She added that the enormity of losing a child after carrying it full-term would have a profound effect on anyone.

Rev Run And Justine’s Road To Recovery and Healing

During his interview in 2007, Rev Run explained that everybody cries, but it should not be a long period of it. 

He revealed that the pair didn’t have pictures of their late daughter. 

They didn’t look back. 

They didn’t want the walls of their house to start crying and everything to just crumble around them.

The couple were on the road to recovery.

Justine shared her new perspective on things, which was that they knew that Victoria was with God in a wonderful place looking down on them.

And she went on to say that it was probably why they’d had a lot of blessings going on in 2007.

In Old School Love: And Why It Works, the husband and wife spoke about one of the biggest things that helped them heal.

Rev Run And Justine Adopted A Baby

After Justine had made a physical recovery, Rev. Run asked her if she would consider adopting a baby.

It had been something that she’d told him she’d like to do in the past, before they’d gotten pregnant with Victoria.

Justine wrote in the book that when her husband made the suggestion to adopt, all her pain melted. 

That was what she really wanted to do.

She claimed that it was God’s plan from the beginning – she felt it, deep in her soul and in her heart.

Around a year after their daughter’s passing, Justine and Rev Run adopted a little baby girl named Miley Justine. 

The parents confessed that it was not an easy process to adopt her, but they couldn’t have been more grateful that they were able to do so.

Justine wrote that there were still times when she would forget that she didn’t actually carry her daughter and birth her. 

Miley was as much from her body as Victoria was.

She went on to say that she wanted all women to know that if they couldn’t conceive a baby or carry a baby, adoption was truly a miracle.

She gushed: “To be able to give a baby love, to be able to give a baby a home, to be able to give a baby a good life- that’s the miracle.”