Plenty of mothers have a difficult time embracing the changes pregnancy and childbirth has made on their bodies, which is why we really appreciate it when high-profile personalities like Alyssa Milano speak out about body positivity.
“Be kind to yourself,” she told Today. “And remember what your body is put on this earth to do, which is nurture, feed, take care of a child. Everything else is sort of irrelevant.”
The actress and breastfeeding advocate went on to talk about how she didn’t put any pressure on herself to lose weight after giving birth to her two children with husband David Bugliari, Milo Thomas, 5; and Elizabella Dylan, 2.
“Our bodies are not made to look good in a string bikini! Our bodies are made to nurture…”
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“I love my C-section scar, because it’s where my babies came from,” Milano said.
Soon after the birth of her first child, she spoke to People about how she refused to focus on getting back her “beach body.”
“Our bodies are not made to look good in a string bikini!” she said. “Our bodies are made to nurture and cuddle and all of those amazing things that come along with being a mom.”
On the next page: Alyssa Milano on how media and celebrities need to be more “honest” about motherhood.
The 43-year-old mom also talked to Today about how difficult motherhood actually is, as opposed to the rose-tinted image that media tends to project.
“It’s a really, really hard job”
“I think the media portrays this very romantic idea of being a mum,” she said. “And we see all these ladies on the white sheets loving their babies and they have on makeup and they look so pretty.
“And there’s an element of it that’s romantic, but it’s a very small part. It’s a really, really hard job. And I think if more women were honest about that, it would help.”
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Mums on social media—especially celebrities—tend to present a picture of motherhood that is beautiful yet unrealistic and unattainable. Milano said that instead of highlighting the perfect moments and the good, more people should be talking about the difficulties of motherhood so that struggling moms would stop feeling so alone.
“People would be able to commiserate more,” she continued. “But I think we see how the media and even celebrities portray motherhood and then when it’s not like that for us, we feel like we’re doing something wrong… And I think people need to talk about how, not only hard, but terrifying it is.”
(Lead image: Alyssa Milano/Facebook)
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