Model Gisele Bünchen shares surprisingly relatable postpartum boob woes
Model Gisele Bündchen has been chatting to the media extensively, ahead of the release of her memoir Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life, and while you might assume that she’s pretty comfortable in her body, she says that hasn’t always been the case at all.
The pressure to ‘bounce back’
While many new mums feel at least a little pressure to ‘bounce back’ to their pre-pregnancy shape, thanks to the comparison trap that is social media, model mums are particularly under the pump.
Gisele Bündchen is spilling the beans on how the fashion world views post-baby bodies, and let’s just say it doesn’t sound too good.
Gisele says that after having two kiddos with husband Tom Brady – five-year-old Vivian and eight-year-old Benjamin – things had rearranged themselves significantly, as is usually the case.
While perhaps she could have taken this in her stride, had she chosen a different vocation, her job meant that every millimetre of her being was under scrutiny … and the scrutineers were brutal. She says that suddenly she did not measure up, and her self-esteem and general mental health took a real blow.
“I was always praised for my body, and I felt like people had expectations from me that I couldn’t deliver,” Gisele told People Magazine admitting that it was her (understandably) lopsided boobs that sparked the most discussion.
“I felt very vulnerable, because I can work out, I can eat healthy, but I can’t change the fact that both of my kids enjoyed the left boob more than the right,” she said. “All I wanted was for them to be even and for people to stop commenting on it.”
Read more about celebrity parents:
- 7 celebrities who keep their kids hush-hush or low-key
- Jools Oliver shares emotional photo of herself seconds after baby’s birth
- Carrie Bickmore shares bump shot tribute to mums, sisters, nieces and daughters
“What have I done?”
What followed was a breast augmentation to “correct” her postpartum boobs and achieve an ideal she felt came with the role. Gisele told People, the 2015 procedure didn’t go very well at all – and, in fact, it made her like her body even less.
“When I woke up, I was like, ‘What have I done?’ I felt like I was living in a body I didn’t recognise,” she explained. “For the first year, I wore [baggy] clothes because I felt uncomfortable.”
To the untrained eye, Gisele’s life (and body) might seem pretty close to perfection, but she stresses that beneath the surface she was struggling and thinks it’s important to note that everyone has their battles.
“Things can be looking perfect on the outside, but you have no idea what’s really going on,” she told People. “I felt like maybe it was time to share some of my vulnerabilities, and it made me realise, everything I’ve lived through, I would never change, because I think I am who I am because of those experiences.”
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