Apparently Duchess Kate is not happy Keira Knightley ‘postpartum shamed’ her
If Kate was a recording artist she’d release a ‘diss track’ but the royal response necessarily needs to be much more subdued …
Keira vs Kate
While the palace would never officially bite back at the criticism Keira Knightley recently aimed at Kate, reports are trickling through that the Royals are less than pleased about the negative chatter.
If you’re catching up on this story, let us give you a bit of background …
Earlier in the week, a new book of feminist essays was released, and one of the pieces within was by actor Keira Knightley. Keira wrote about her career, fighting the patriarchy – and in detail about her own birth experience. She compared her birth with Duchess Kate’s, as their daughters were born a day apart.
In her writing, Keira characterised her birth as gory and painful and raw.
“You came out with your eyes open. Arms up in the air. Screaming. They put you on to me, covered in blood, vernix, your head misshapen from the birth canal. Pulsating, gasping, screaming … I remember the shit, the vomit, the blood, the stitches.”
Then she took aim at Kate and the way the Duchess portrayed her daughter’s arrival.
“Look beautiful. Look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate … Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don’t show. Don’t tell.”
More on the royal family:
Shots fired (from the palace?)
Keira’s piece – titled The Weaker Sex – quickly sparked debate across the globe, and now it’s being reported that Kate is a little miffed.
Celebrity news bible US Weekly say they’ve had word from a mysterious “Palace source” connected to the Duchess herself.
“Keira is obviously entitled to her own opinion, but it was very much based on her own experiences and not of Kate’s. Not every mother feels the same way,” the insider reportedly said. “Keira’s comments were simply for attention and they weren’t justified.”
“Kate has spoken out about the struggles of parenthood,” the insider pointed out. “At times it has been a huge challenge. Even for me, who has support at home that most mothers do not. Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer, overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It’s full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love, and worry, all mixed together.”
The actor has made some observations about Duchess Kate's postpartum behaviour.
Posted by Babyology on Sunday, 7 October 2018
“If Keira is a feminist shouldn’t she be applauding Kate?”
While we’re unsure of the accuracy of this report, we think the sentiment behind it is pretty accurate. Although some think that Kate sets impossible and unrealistic postpartum standards, appearing polished is part of the job she signed up for.
Babyology readers agreed, taking to Facebook earlier this week in support of the Duchess. Reader Bern’s comment sums the response up:
“You can’t compare your experience of birth to someone else’s. Who cares if their babies were born 24 hours apart? Whose to say Kate didn’t go home, change into trackies and hop into bed? I’m so over women only being allowed to share gory stories of birth and getting torn down if they have a different story. If Keira is a feminist shouldn’t she be applauding Kate for getting through birth in whatever way that looked like for her?”
We feel you, Bern! #fistbump
