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Tell the truth, celebs: pregnancy can suck
Filed under: Bump Watch, Celeb Kids, Celeb Parents, Behaving Badly
I just finished catching up on my gossip rag reading, and I must say, it wasn't very satisfying. Celebrities are having babies left and right and mags are documenting it like it's groundbreaking news and, yeah, I know most of you say you hate reading about the godforsaken celebrity parenting debauchery -- but millions are in fact fascinated with the minutae of JLo's nursery and Halle's preggo belly. If not, the gossip mags would quit writing about them, already. I admit: I am a secret gossip monger, and don't have a problem reading about how much pregnancy weight Tori has lost, or how much post-partum depression Brooke struggled with. What I do mind is the near-continuous "All is roses! Love, love, pregnancy!" vibe that every pregnant star seems to perpetuate.
Halle Barry says she would like to be pregnant forever. Jessica Alba says pregnancy is awesome. Can't one celebrity just admit that pregnancy sucked for her? That she felt bloated, and unattractive, weepy and cantankerous?
I remember when I was well into my second trimester, when my belly button popped out and a colleague popped into my office and congratulated me on my pregnancy, chortling heartily: "All this time, I just thought you were letting yourself go!" I held it together while he was in my office, but then hormonal, crappy, pregnant tears started drooling down my face.
Well, I had felt that way. My jeans chafed my belly button. I felt less respected as a competent career women, because my breasts were enormous and in the way and who the hell could take me seriously, as an intelligent company resource. when I had a pink bow dangling off the front of my sweater (incidentally: What is with the bows, maternity industry? What is with all the bows?) I felt truly unattractive, my skin broke out, and my butt became middle-aged overnight. I can say without hestitating that I was miserable for about 92% of my pregnancy.
What I wish is that a movie star would take the time during one of those all-important interviews to say: "Pregnancy sucked big time, I picked fights with my partner and sat in the bathroom and ate secret ice cream constantly. I wondered if I made an enormous mistake and felt some mornings I had." She'd be free to sum it up with an assurance that it's all worth it (because mind-bogglingly, it is), but I just yearn for a little bit of honesty. I was flummoxed that I didn't love pregnancy, partially because most women I knew celebrated it as a time of Glowing and All That Is Lovely. And I know it is, for many. But I also know it can suck big-time in pockets, and I wish that was acknowledged a little more by those in the mainstream media.
This whole "all is bliss" insistence reminds me of celebrities who declare that they eat french fries and gravy and donuts every day and weigh 97 pounds with no cellulite. If they just admitted the binged and purged and ate a piece of tofu every other day, wouldn't they have millions more fans?











ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
1-25-2008 @ 1:49AM
kara said...So, from what you're saying (and maybe you're skipping some more serious stuff), you hated being pregnant because you felt like less of a person because you weren't hot anymore. Is that the jist of it? Because really, saying that you wouldn't be taken seriously because you were heavier, had bigger boobs, and had bows on your clothing. . .um, either you work with people who deserve very little benefit of the doubt, or you're really shallow.
I understand that you can only work within the confines of your own experience and your "norm," so for me to say that there are a lot of people out here who are bigger than a size 6 and still manage to be taken seriously in the workplace will most likely fall on deaf ears. But really? If FAT was your chief complaint about being pregnant, you should be thanking your lucky stars rather than whining about "92% miserable".
There are a lot of people who suffer through a whole lot worse to try to build a family, and in my opinion you're sounding pretty ridiculous to all of them. (i.e. myself--I had extremely low blood pressure while pregnant and had a tendancy to pass out inconveniently, nearly losing my beautiful girl in the process. Kind of put the weight gain and maternity clothes in a more appropriate perspective.)
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1-14-2008 @ 9:45AM
Judy said...Wow, mine sucked too. The second trimester was great but the first and third were terrible. Morning sickness, horrific leg cramps, cold sores and the constant pottying. But is was definitely worth it :)
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1-14-2008 @ 10:48AM
mckenna said...Didn't Charlize Theron just get reamed for saying she didn't want to be pregnant because she didn't want to look like a cow? Now that was honesty, but every parenting media jumped all over her. I think the celebs are probably "damned if you do, damned if you don't" so they're taking the path that's least troubling for most...being too positive, albeit less truthful.
Personally, my first round was much easier than this current one (no big emotional swings, no morning sickness), but I wouldn't say I loved pregnancy even then. I manage through (especially the last trimester) by keeping my eye on the prize in the end...
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1-14-2008 @ 10:52AM
emily said...I totally agree - and it's not just the celebs that don't want to admit that it SUX. I was miserable 95% of the time. Looking back, my happy times were during my baby shower, a couple of sanity "sick" days I took from work and during my nightly ice cream binges. In my book, you're a celeb mom - so thanks for being honest ;).
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1-14-2008 @ 11:26AM
Shannon said...You were ONLY miserable for 92% of the pregnancy??? LUCKY! :)
I agree. It would be nice to hear that there are others out there who, although they love babies and eagerly anticipate their own newborn, thought (or think) that pregnancy sucks the big one in almost every way. Because for a lot of us? It really really does.
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1-14-2008 @ 11:35AM
ashley said...Jenny McCarthy wrote a book called 'belly laughs'. it is still one of my favorite books. she covers all of the gross/unpleasant parts of pregnancy in a hilarious way. she followed up with 'baby laughs' which does the same thing. from what i remember, she got alot of sh*t for writing about pregnancy and being a a new mom the way she did...but i can't imagine why. her books talk about all things i guess no one wants to admit are true.
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1-14-2008 @ 11:47AM
Carrie said...I loved giving birth and having babies, but I hate hate hate being pregnant! I'm miserable from head to toe with 24/7, 9 month long nausea, heartburn and all of it..
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1-14-2008 @ 11:57AM
jpark said...In the early parts of my pregnancy, everyone kept telling me how much they LOVED being pregnant and how wonderful it was. When the girls at work would ask me how I was feeling, I always told them "All these strange people keep telling me how much they loved being pregnant. They are all LIARS!"
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1-14-2008 @ 12:15PM
~Monica said...Maybe because for some people, it's really true?
I have never felt so healthy and vibrant and alive as I did when I was pregnant. My partner kept remarking how he wished I'd stay pregnant forever because I was so happy and in a good mood all the time. And it was true! Pregnancy seemed to give me the hormones I needed - pregnancy was like one big all-day-long Happy Pill.
So maybe they aren't lying? That the ones who truly love being pregnant are the ones that speak out and the ones who hated it simply say nothing?
I know for some, pregnancy is the worst horror, but for others, it's the exact opposite. Same thing with post-partum, some hate it, some love it.
Now that being said, if I were a celebrity *constantly* having to watch my diet and exercise and 'be perfect' - I'd LOVE pregnancy too. You then have this accepted excuse to eat whatever-the-hell you want! To them, that must be DREAMY!
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1-14-2008 @ 1:27PM
Joy said...I have to admit that for the most part, I loved being pregnant. I was only slightly nauseous for a few weeks and a touch of heartburn towards the end but nothing major. I felt so sunny and cheerful and really alive. It’s hard to explain if you were sick and felt crummy the whole time. The only thing that was hard for me was the sleeping part. I’m a stomach sleeper so I found that hard at the end. I also had really easy deliveries. Six hours with my first and 2 with my second. I’d have had another child in a minute but the hubby voted me down on that.
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1-14-2008 @ 2:21PM
Trisha said...Ok, so I loved the book Belly Laughs too!
I read it while I was pregnant the first time and super hormonal, I laughed myself silly sitting in the Borders coffee shop! Jenny really does tell it like it is sometimes, that it can totally SUCK!
I'm preggo with #2 now, and about 31 weeks. It sucks during certain parts of the day and is fine others and I even get a "pretty good" some times.
But the first trimester was HORRID. I felt so crappy AND fat that I basically became a recluse!
So my belief is that it's sucky a lot, ok sometimes and occasionally good.
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1-14-2008 @ 2:23PM
Meg said...Considering how much crap celebrities take, my guess is a lot of them say they love being pregnant because they know that if they said the opposite, some gossip rag would turn their "Being pregnant kind of sucks, actually," into, "HALLE BARRY HATES HER UNBORN CHILD!"
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1-14-2008 @ 3:44PM
Judy said...Well, considering the attacks Angelina Jolie got for saying perfectly honest things I've heard out of the mouths of LOTS of other non-celebrity parents (calling the infant Shiloh a "blob," for example, something I frequently said about my infants), I think celebrity moms-to-be are probably terrified to complain about anything and be even remotely honest.
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1-15-2008 @ 9:34PM
Brenda said...I've only heard a few women talk about not loving being pregnant. Cindy Crawford & Jamie Pressley both got a raft of sh*t for mentioning feeling uncomfortable in their own skins and not loving pregnancy. Why would a celeb risk it these days? Like a previous poster said, any negative comment would be immediately spun into some horrific, attention-grabbing headline.
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1-14-2008 @ 9:50PM
Ann Adams said...I hadn't given it much thought but I agree with Meg and Judy. Any negative statement would be blown all out of proportion by the media whose primary purpose is to sell advertising space. To do that, they need readers and it seems like most readers love a train wreck.
Of course it could be true. I can't say pregnancy was way up on my list of favorite occupations but it wasn't all that bad and, except for the last couple of months, I didn't have much to complain about.
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1-16-2008 @ 11:12AM
Carolyn said...Yes!! Thank god! I can't take any more of these beautiful, glowing, tanned and toned moms-to-be raving about the joys of pregnancy.
I remember my pregnancy as 9 months of sweating, bloating, insomnia and countless indignities and embarassments. Yes, it was worth it. But it wasn't pretty!
Carolyn
http://www.momsontheedge.typepad.com
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1-18-2008 @ 5:36PM
Toni said...my pregnancy sucked. i was sick the whole time in and out of the hospital. i would never want to be pregnant ever again!
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1-18-2008 @ 11:23PM
robin said...for me it was great finding out i was pregnant. after that it was all down hill for me. i was so sick with morning sickness, up all nights, then id sleep days. days and nights all mixed up with both pregnancies. the time in the middle 3 mos, supposed to be the best part of pregnancy. not for me, other problems developed, back pain, especially when id twist one way or another at waist. id get sharp pains radiating up leg, to the extent i couldnt stand on this one foot, for a breif time. then last 3 mos. the worst, when i couldnt breathe well, and tired easily up a flight of steps. etc. when told that i needed to rest because baby might come early, it was a rough time for me. feeling like i wanted baby to come now. then quilty, for knowing the fact, this baby needed this time here inside me, to grow, before surviving in the world. so i would rest, get up move around, rest again. since this was babies one chance or shot to be in my womb, and i didnt feel i had this right as mom to cut it short for both my two babies. the days finally came, and it all felt so short really then. for all this suffering that went on while i was pregnant with my 2 beloved children, who are 13 and 9 today.
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1-18-2008 @ 11:49PM
katie said...hi i'm katie from jeanerette ,louisiana i just have twin girls on christmas day and i love being pregnant it make me sexy
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