Laura Bileskalne was terminated from Below Deck Down Under Season 2. During her shortened time on-air, Laura made unwanted advances towards Adam Kodra, while also supporting another sexual assault attempt involving Luke Jones and a blacked-out Margot Sisson. This saw both crew members being fired, as Luke and Laura’s behaviors were inexcusable. That said, Laura just revealed that she suffered a miscarriage onboard, which does help to explain some of her behaviors, though not all.
I’ve written about this before, but I’ll say it again—I too have lost a child in utero. It’s traumatizing, and as this is a highly sensitive, deeply personal matter, all that we can do is try to extend grace, even when grace seems hard to find. If any of our readers are currently walking down this dark, lonely road, know that I stand with you. In addition, if you are in need of understanding ears, check out this pregnancy loss sub on Reddit—you are never alone.
As for Laura, we can now better understand certain storylines that were once annoying, which we’ll explain below, giving Laura as much grace as possible. However, Laura’s sexual assault attempts and blind support of Luke, both during and post filming, cannot be excused away. We’ll explain all of our thoughts on this highly sensitive matter now.
A Recap of Laura’s Revelation
Laura just appeared on the the Miss Understood podcast. “I guess it is finally time to talk about it because I was not sure I wanted to talk about it. I found out I was pregnant on the second day of the show,” Laura began. As for her reaction to her pregnancy, Laura admitted, “I was in shock—that was the first pregnancy for me.”
On her first reaction, Laura said “I thought I had a UTI and I had antibiotics, but they didn’t help. I spoke with the nurse on the show and she gave me a test. The show was filming when I found out and I was in the bathroom. We are not supposed to talk to cast members without filming, but I was like, ‘I need to talk to Aesha [Scott]. I need to talk without cameras.’”
As for Laura’s conversation with Aesha, she explained, “I told her what was happening because I thought she would be the one who can support me the most. She knew what was happening with me—and it was also for my protection—because I didn’t want someone else to find out about it.” Laura also alerted production, adding, “And production knew because I went to the hospital twice. I asked them not to show it, because I didn’t want to explain what is happening, but everybody knew I was in the hospital.”
After finding out she was pregnant, Laura decided to have an abortion, however, she suffered a miscarriage soon thereafter. “We had an appointment between charters to get an abortion. We were still on charter on Monday and that morning I woke up with pain I cannot explain. I was bleeding extensively, and the bathroom was the only safe place I could be,” she said.
To Her Credit, Laura Wasn’t as Lazy as It Appeared
Often, Laura was seen heavily drinking, taking too long when getting ready, and also asking for breaks. This resulted in an edit that often depicted her as drunk and lazy. As for her drinking, Laura carried on with her typical behaviors despite being pregnant, likely because an abortion was scheduled. On her work ethic, Laura wasn’t exactly thrilled with the storyline that Bravo aired.
In fact, Laura was shocked to see her breaks becoming a major topic, as Aesha knew what she was experiencing. “I told Aesha for this reason, and it turned to a completely different narrative. That was really hurtful actually. That was more hurtful than all the other things,” Laura explained.
“When I am like that, and they knew it, and they still made it look like I was just spending a long time in the bathroom. People were making memes saying I came out of the bathroom looking the same. I probably looked even less the same because I cried. That was my only safe place where I could be,” she added.
Clearly, Laura was dealing with several layers of emotional and physical pain. Also, the amount of blood lost can be quite high during a miscarriage. Therefore, we now understand why Laura spent so many hours in the bathroom. We also get why she is currently upset over her bad edit on the Below Deck franchise.
We Can’t Give Laura a Pass—She Still Doesn’t Get It
In the podcast, the host pointed out to Laura that she had lost her job for supporting Luke, not Margot, Luke’s victim. “She would be a victim if he would try something on her,” Laura began. She then went on to say that nothing happened between Luke and Margot. Therefore, in her mind, Margot is not a victim, and Luke was not a predator.
Yikes. We all saw the events of this night play out on-air. The only reason that nothing happened is not because Luke was a good, innocent guy, as Laura feels, but rather because production literally stepped into the room, forcing Luke off of Margot and out of her cabin.
Overall, Laura is still tone-deaf. Her lack of understanding of just how serious the events of this night could have been cannot be brushed away now due to her unfortunate miscarriage revelation. We can now better understand her bathroom stays and her need for longer breaks. However, there are zero excuses for not respecting someone saying “no” or being unable to give consent.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LAURA BILESKALNE’S BEHAVIORS NOW?
