Halsey doesn’t want to ‘feed the illusion’ of postpartum bounce-back culture

In a candid Instagram post, the singer refuses to participate in the toxic postpartum body pressure.

It’s not uncommon for celebrities to look exactly like they did pre-pregnancy within, like, minutes of giving birth. Or, at least, many of them appear to in their carefully curated and posed photos post-baby. This is called “bounce-back culture” and the only purpose it serves is to instill a sense of pressure on women and birthing people to look like your body did not create, house, sustain, and birth a human—even though it totally did.

Halsey (who goes by she/they, which will be used interchangeably in this piece) is only a few months postpartum and is not here for that. At all. They don’t want to ‘feed the illusion’ of putting pressure on postpartum bodies.

For some, genetics plays a huge role in losing baby weight/avoiding stretchmarks/skin elasticity. For many others, well, our bodies look like we had babies. Because those bodies did have babies. And the way that looks on each body is completely different.

“I am posting this because no matter what I do people are going to talk about my body,” she writes. “It is confusing symptom of being in the public eye so rather than complain I am going to give you something real to talk about!”

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In her post, Halsey shares a slideshow of images of their postpartum stomach as they’ve recovered from the birth of their son, Ender, over the summer. She notes that after performing on SNL over the weekend, they received lots of compliments of how “good” she looked.

“That was a weird feeling,” she writes. “My body has felt like a stranger’s for a long time. I uphold myself to honesty to the point of over sharing sometimes but this feels important. The first picture on this slide is days after my baby was already born. A lot of people don’t know that you still look pregnant for a while after. It is still changing and I am letting it.”

Halsey says they don’t have any desire to work out because, spoiler alert, she’s an exhausted new mom! She also makes sure to call attention to the fact that the outfit she was wearing was custom and tailored to her body, and the stage was lighted in a way that perfectly complimented her so she could “feel good” while performing.

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“I do not want to feed the illusion that you’re meant to feel and look ‘great’ immediately postpartum,” they write. “That is not my narrative currently. If you’ve been following me because you’re also a parent and you dig what I’m doing, please know I’m in your corner. I will never have my ‘pre baby body back’ no matter how it changes physically because I have now had a baby! And that has altered me forever; emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That change is permanent. And I don’t want to go back!”

She also shares “in the spirit of honesty” that she’s really tired, not a superhuman, and that being a new parent is really hard.

Halsey—this is why we love you. Using your platform to share these things is genuinely helpful, and so many new parents with the same struggles will find value in your words and photos.

“Doing my best to serve my art and my family whilst keeping it all so very real,” she concludes her post. “Love.”

More From Motherly:

• Halsey Shares Photo Of Son For #WorldBreastfeedingWeek – Motherly ›
• Halsey Says She’s Not Taking Prenatal Vitamins – Motherly ›

More Links We Like:

• Halsey ›
• halsey (@iamhalsey) • Instagram photos and videos ›