Olympic skier Bode Miller opened up about his 19-month-old daughter’s tragic drowning during a TV interview on Friday and warned other parents how quickly tragedy can strike.
‘I can attest from firsthand experience now that it’s unbelievable quick and it’s unbelievable sneaky,’ he told NBC Today’s Savannah Guthrie in a preview clip. ‘It just happens in the blink of an eye.’
Miller and his wife, beach volleyball player Morgan Beck Miller, lost their daughter, Emeline, in June after she fell into a pool during a neighbor’s party.
Bode Miller and his wife, beach volleyball player Morgan Beck Miller, lost their daughter, Emeline, in June after she fell into a pool during a neighbor’s party. They spoke to Today about their experiences in a preview clip that aired on Friday
Emeline slipped through a back door at the house and was discovered in a pool shortly later. The child was taken to a hospital where she died the next day.
‘A child under 30 pounds can drown in 30 seconds,’ said Beck Miller, who was at the event without her husband. ‘And I just keep counting to 30 in my head.’
The volleyball player explained the importance of scanning the surroundings of a house to make sure there were no open areas of water that could pose a threat.
‘When you go to someone else’s house, survey the home to see if it’s a safe place for your child to be,’ she said.
The couple first shared the tragic news about their daughter in an Instagram post on June 11.
‘We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday,’ they wrote.
‘Never in a million years did we think we would experience a pain like this. Her love, her light, her spirit will never be forgotten.
‘Our little girl loved life and lived it to it’s fullest every day. Our family respectfully requests privacy during this painful time.’
Emeline (pictured left and with her father, right) slipped through a back door at the house and was discovered in a pool shortly later. She was taken to a hospital where she died the next day.
‘I can attest from firsthand experience now that it’s unbelievable quick and it’s unbelievable sneaky,’ Miller told NBC Today’s Savannah Guthrie in a preview clip aired on Friday
Miller and Beck Miller wed in 2012 and have a three-year-old son, Nash Skan. Miller is also father to two children from a previous relationship.
They are son Samuel, five, and daughter Neesyn, 10.
The couple announced they were expecting their third child together in a post on Instagram just weeks before Emeline’s death.
Miller, the most successful male American alpine skier of all time, has won six Winter Olympics medals, including a gold in Vancouver in 2010.
He retired from ski racing in October 2017.
The full interview with air on NBC this Monday.
The couple first shared the tragic news about their daughter in an Instagram post on June 11. ‘We are beyond devastated. Our baby girl, Emmy, passed away yesterday,’ they wrote
The couple announced they were expecting their third child together in a post on Instagram just weeks before Emeline’s death