It’s a sad truth that women’s bodies are still automatically under huge scrutiny in 2019. And if a woman in the public eye has a baby – well that’s just asking for those inevitable “pregnancy body” headlines, right?

Take Stacey Solomon, for example. After recently sharing a photo of herself with her baby son in a swimming pool, she was called her “brave” for “showing off” her “postpartum body” by fans and media outlets. Although the comments were no-doubt well-intentioned, the focus of the sweet picture should surely have been on her new son?

So, it’s little wonder that model, actor and businesswoman Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed that she felt certain pressures about her body after giving birth to her son in 2017.

Huntington-Whiteley spoke about the experience in a candid interview with Ashley Graham on her podcast Pretty Big Deal. She started by talking about what a “crazy” time her pregnancy was.

“Listen, I enjoyed myself. I let the reins go,” Huntington-Whiteley told Graham. “It’s a new experience, so you’re kind of like, ‘Well, let’s see how this goes’. And six months in, I was like, ‘What? This is crazy! It was an intense journey. It was so magical to see – towards the end I just walked around naked.”

She added: “So by the end I just felt really empowered in my body, but it took a minute to get there.”

Huntington-Whiteley continued to describe the huge changes that happened to her body after the pregnancy as “humbling” because she had “had a certain body type” for most of her life.

She added: “I will say working out in the gym and looking back at myself and feeling like shit, I was like, now I understand how hard it is for some people to get to the gym.

“I cannot tell people how to feel about their bodies, because everybody has a different experience.”

Graham then asked her guest about how the press “tore her apart” with “ugly” articles for wearing a swimsuit for a photoshoot seven months after giving birth.

“I was kind of taken aback by some of the comments that people had … and the narrative around how women are supposed to look,” replied Huntington-Whiteley. “It was just shocking to see someone write, ‘Another Body Ruined After a Baby.’ I was like, what the fuck? Sure, I haven’t bounced back, it’s seven months later, but like… 

“I was quiet for a couple days but you get on, it makes you stronger. But really it was more like, really – are we still at a place where we have this pressure of ‘bouncing back’ after a baby?”

She then talked about the new respect she has for her body, saying: “Everybody’s body is different, everyone is on their own journey, and I really want every mother to really focus on herself but also the time with her child and it’ll come, it’ll happen, and everybody gets back to a place where they feel good again, if not better. 

“Because I feel better, and I feel a different respect for my body than I did before.” 

Image: Getty