Maya Henry is opening up about her difficult experience with abortion. The former model released her novel, Looking Forward, a work of fiction "inspired by true events," on Wednesday.
Henry, 23, tells that she "drew inspiration" from her real life, and in one pivotal scene in the novel, the main character, Mallory, endures a painful abortion after her partner warns her he will walk away from the relationship if she chooses to keep their baby.
The author says that what she went through in real life is “very similar” to that of her character, and that she dealt with serious complications with little support. In the book, Mallory is encouraged by her partner’s team to avoid seeking treatment for hemorrhaging in the hospital for fear of being spotted in public and word getting out.
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have done it,” Henry says of her abortion. “But then also, if I were to have made a different decision, then I would’ve lost the person that I loved. There were definitely difficult conversations about it. But looking back now, things happen for a reason.”
Henry, who was previously engaged to singer Liam Payne, says she suffered complications during her abortion and ultimately had to take herself to the hospital.
“It was very lonely, having these men tell you, ‘Oh, it’s going to feel like a heavy period, it’s not going to be that painful, it’s going to be easy.’ But I’m like, you’ve never even gone through anything like this, so how would you know to tell me?” she says. “That’s why I wanted to include it in the book, because I’ve seen so many people online talk about taking the abortion pill, and it was the most painful thing for them. It’s just mind-boggling to me that you could tell a woman how they’re going to feel.”
“It broke my heart seeing her like that when she’s usually always so happy and positive,” the source says. “That was hands down the lowest point of her life, and it didn’t have to be that way.”
Henry and Payne first confirmed their relationship in 2019 and were engaged in August 2020. After breaking up the next year, they rekindled their romance before ending things for good in April 2022.
Now, Henry, who will soon graduate from New York University with a creative writing degree, says she’s grateful to have a platform that she can use to help young women in relationships that are not serving them.
“You never know what goes on behind closed doors,” she says. “It’s definitely nerve-wracking and scary, but we need to have difficult conversations about these topics to help women not feel alone and to speak up about things. That’s ultimately why I wanted to put this book out there.”
The Quran - Chapter Adh-Dhariyat : 23
Then by the Lord of heaven and earth! ˹All˺ this is certainly as true as ˹the fact that˺ you can speak!
Has the story of Abraham’s honoured guests reached you ˹O Prophet˺?
إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مِّثْلَ مَا أَنَّكُمْ تَنطِقُونَ (...it [ the Day of Recompense ] is a reality, as sure as that you speak....51:23). It means that all of the matters relating to Judgment, Resurrection and Recompense that they have been promised shall certainly occur. Therefore, it is the truth, there being no doubt about it, so they should not doubt its coming, just as they do not doubt that they can speak.
There are five physical sensations of perception: sight, hearing, tasting, feeling and smelling. Here 'speaking' has been singled out probably because the faculty of speech is the only one where there can be no trace of deception or illusion, whereas the other sensations, on account of ailments, can get contorted.
Differences in hearing and seeing are known. In sickness the sensation of tasting gets reversed or distorted in some other way. Sometimes sweet things taste bitter and bitter things taste sweet. (Qurtubi)
