10 Famous Women Who Got Real About the Imperfections of Their Post-Baby Body

A study found that less than a third of women return to their pre-pregnancy fitness level one year after giving birth. After all, our body does the incredible act of growing a human for 9 months, which certainly modifies it in many ways. And even though many stars bounce back in record time after pregnancy, several celebrities nowadays are categorically refusing to pressure their bodies and instead embrace all the new changes they’ve been through.

Bright Side believes that the act of giving birth is one of life’s most precious miracles. We want to tell you about 10 famous women who celebrated their post-pregnancy shape and love all its imperfections.

Kate Winslet

The 46-year-old actress has 3 children. After giving birth to her first two, she admitted, “I’m 33. I don’t look in the mirror and go: ’Oh, I look fantastic!’ Of course, I don’t. Nobody is perfect.”

When she was asked to reveal which parts of her body she felt were not perfect, Winslet replied, “Where do I start? OK, what’s not perfect about me? Everything!” She then added, “Crumble baby belly, boobs are worse for wear after two kids.”

Olivia Wilde

The 38-year-old actress gave birth to her first child in 2014, at the age of 30. Nearly a year later, she admitted that she still hadn’t gotten back to her perfect shape, and said, “In fact, I’m softer than I’ve ever been.” She went on to describe her post-baby body as “a partially deflated pool toy.”

Wilde seems to be perfectly fine with the changes her body has gone through and added, “I believe in a world where mothers are not expected to shed any physical evidence of their child-bearing experience.”

Zooey Deschanel

The 42-year-old actress has a son and a daughter, born in 2015 and 2017. Soon after giving birth to her first kid, she made it clear that she strongly opposes the idea of pressuring yourself to bounce back from pregnancy too quickly. She revealed, “Haven’t we all seen those pictures of a sexy new mom in a bikini after one month? I will not be that person.”

Deschanel also explained that the changes a mom’s body goes through are totally normal; she said, “You just grew a human and then birthed that human. All your organs move around.”

Anne Hathaway

The 39-year-old actress has 2 sons, born in 2016 and 2019. Three years after the birth of her second boy, she shared on her Instagram that she’s made adjustments to her old jeans. Hathaway captioned the pic: “There is no shame in gaining weight during pregnancy (or ever). There is no shame if it takes longer than you think it will to lose the weight.”

Drew Barrymore

The 47-year-old actress, who has 2 daughters, was very open about her post-baby body. She admitted, “After making two babies [...] it’s hard to stay positive and love yourself.” She then added, “You feel like a kangaroo with a giant pouch; everything’s saggy and weird.”

But in the end, it seems that Barrymore believes that all these changes are worth it, she noted, “But you think about how beautiful it is that you’re able to make children.”

Pink

The 42-year-old singer has a daughter, born in 2011, and a son, born in 2016. After the birth of her baby girl, Pink wasn’t in a hurry to shed the weight she had gained during pregnancy.

She admitted, “I love to feel fit. I love to feel healthy. I wasn’t in a race.” Pink added, “I was really kind to myself because I was actually really impressed with the fact that [...] ’I made a human!’”

Tia Mowry

Seven weeks after giving birth to her second child, the then 39-year-old actress posted a photo of her postpartum body on her Instagram. She captioned it, “Some pregnant women, after giving birth, no longer have a belly after 7 weeks. While others may take a little longer. Me, I’m the latter.”

She also revealed that it took her some time to embrace the changes her body went through, but she added, “This. Is. Me. And I love me.”

Keira Knightley

The 37-year-old actress has 2 daughters, born in 2015 and 2019. Two years after her eldest child was born, she noted, “It’s a different body, as it should be, because it’s done an extraordinary thing.”

Knightley admitted that she was surprised by how unbothered she was with her postpartum body and refused to pressure herself. She explained, “I thought I was going to go, ’God, I’ve got to get back into shape.’ I actually went completely the opposite.”

Hilary Duff

The actress first gave birth when she was 24 and now has 3 children. She noted that “being a new mom was one of the happiest times” of her life, but she had struggled with the way she perceived her body.

She admitted, “I wasn’t one of those women who just could nurse and lose the weight.” But Duff revealed that her perception changed as she realized that her “body helped create a bond” between her and the child, and that “was far more important” than her trying to get in shape right away.

Kristen Bell

The 41-year-old actress’s 2 kids were born in 2013 and 2014. She later admitted that she didn’t lose her baby weight for over a year and added, “when I look down, even now, at the extra skin on my belly, it’s a reminder that I’ve done something spectacular.”

Bell also explained that she never worries about the way she looks or her weight, “because that’s just part of the journey of having a baby.” She continued by saying, “I am not a woman whose self-worth comes from her dress size.”

Do you agree that women shouldn’t be in a hurry to get back into perfect shape after giving birth? What was your own post-pregnancy experience?