Alyssa Milano on Learning to Love Her C-Section Scar: 'There's Something Incredibly Tribal About It'

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Alyssa Milano embraces her changing body.

The 48-year-old Sorry Not Sorry author talks about motherhood on PEOPLE's Me Becoming Mom podcast, sharing why she's grown to be proud of the scar left from her cesarean section. Milano shares son Milo Thomas, 10, and daughter Elizabella Dylan, 7, with husband David Bugliari.

"How many people can say this is where they cut me open, removed all of the organs in the way, got my baby out, gave me my baby, put all of the organs back in, and then stitched me and stapled me up?" she says. "There's something incredibly tribal about it, almost. It feels almost like a tattoo in a way."

Elsewhere in the Me Becoming Mom conversation with host Zoë Ruderman, Head of Digital at PEOPLE, Milano recalls why giving birth the first time brought up flashbacks of being sexually assaulted.

RELATED: Alyssa Milano Recalls Thinking Miscarriage Was 'Karmic' Punishment for Abortions in Her 20s

"I remembered at one point [during childbirth] really not enjoying the fact that lots of people had access to my vagina," she shares. "And thinking to myself, 'Why does— I don't like this. Why does it feel so familiar? I've never had a baby before. Why does this invasive feeling feel so familiar?' That was just a fleeting moment, a tick in time, but I didn't forget about it."

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Milano says she had postpartum anxiety and depression, and through therapy, she learned more about her experience.

"After going through therapy after giving birth to Milo and remembering that one moment of feeling like I was being held down and had things being done to me that I didn't want, to me, was very reminiscent of being sexually assaulted," she says. "It triggered all of these memories that I thought I had dealt with. I think anyone who has dealt with trauma has the moments where you're like, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I've dealt with that.' Versus the moments where you go, 'Oh, no I didn't. I just tried to tuck it away so no one could see them or I couldn't see them or feel them anymore.' "

Frazer Harrison/Getty Alyssa Milano

"That's what it felt like for me," adds Milano. "I gotta think that because it felt that way for me, it must've felt that way for other women. I wonder how much of my postpartum anxiety was due to — of course, hormones and all of the things — but also that feeling that felt like I wasn't in control, you know?"

Back in 2016, Milano echoed that she loves her c-section scar "because it's where my babies came from." She said to Today at the time, "Be kind to yourself, 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."

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.