Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed Have Just Apologized for That Cringe-y Birth Control Anecdote

Remember that massively uncomfortable moment last week when news broke that Ian Somerhalder had flushed wife Nikki Reed’s birth control pills down the toilet in Barcelona? Without telling Reed? Ah, sangria: It is the gateway to very poor decisions, like taking away your wife’s reproductive agency. Apparently it happened after the couple had decided to start a family together (though Reed said they knew they were ready after Somerhalder “threw out all my birth control pills”), but Somerhalder’s blasé retelling of the matter, on Dr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy, didn’t really cast him in a great light:

“But unbeknownst to poor Nikki, she didn’t realize that I was going to go in her purse and take out her birth control,” he recounted. “By the way, it was the beginning of the pack, so I had to pop all those suckers out. It is a lot of work, especially after a little bit of sangria.”

Ew.

This sent the progressive Internet into a frenzy for obvious reasons, and Reed issued a statement in the aftermath to try to make it clear that the interview was them poking fun at each other.

However, it didn’t do enough to block the dam. So, on Saturday, the couple apologized on their respective Twitter accounts for the furor with identical statements. Apparently it was all peachy keen between the two, and the interview was done lightheartedly. However, they expressed awareness that some have been affected by reproductive coercion—and mentioned that if this had opened the door to that issue becoming a topic more talked about, then at least there’s a silver lining there.

A note from us… pic.twitter.com/3WNmrGYS7M

— Nikki Reed (@NikkiReed_I_Am) September 23, 2017

Related Stories:
-Ian Somerhalder Threw Out Nikki Reed’s Birth Control Pills When They Decided to Have Kids
-Nikki Reed Responds to Backlash Over Ian Somerhalder’s Comments About Hiding Her Birth Control-Ian Somerhalder Broke His Post-Baby ‘Month of Silence’ to Gush About Nikki Reed