Danielle Brooks Says It's 'Constantly A Struggle' To Accept Her Post-Baby Body
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Danielle Brooks says it’s “constantly a struggle” to come to terms with her body after giving birth ― but she’s working on acceptance.
“It’s something that I’ve had to mentally come to grips with: that it’s OK to have changed,” the “Orange Is the New Black” star said in an interview with Shape magazine, published last week. Brooks and her husband, Dennis Gelin, welcomed a daughter named Freeya back in November 2019.
“I created an entire human being, and that should be celebrated, and my body took a beating for that,” the actor added. “It’s constantly a struggle... but I’m learning to accept the new me, and that’s still a beautiful human being, and that’s still a sexy human being.”
Brooks also shared her two cents on the societal pressures for women to snap back after having a baby.
“We put a lot of pressure on women to snap back, but there’s so much that comes with being pregnant and also giving birth,” Brooks said.
“The Color Purple” star had an emergency C-section, which she described as “a major surgery that people take very lightly at times.”
Danielle Brooks attends the Fourth Annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television on Dec. 06, 2021 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Leon Bennett via Getty Images)
She also spoke of the pressures of being in the public eye, admitting that celebrities are generally rewarded for bouncing back after having a baby.
“That’s great, but I also think we need to celebrate the woman who is embracing where she is, which might not be a bounce back,” the 32-year-old added.
Brooks’ words echo comments made by model Ashley Graham, who has spoken of the difficulties of body changes during pregnancy and after giving birth.
“When I got pregnant, I had to reimagine my relationship with my body with this creature inside me taking over. I was gaining weight so rapidly,” Graham, now a mom-of-three said in an interview for Elle magazine’s August 2020 issue. “Then, to get stretch marks on my stomach, that to me was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I can’t believe this happened.’”
She went on to describe the experience as a life-changing event worth celebrating.
“At first it felt devastating,” Graham added, “And then when I met [my first son] Isaac, I said, ‘No, this is exactly what every woman has talked about for ages. This is not just a battle wound. This is something that has changed my life forever, and I’m going to celebrate my new body.’”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
