Rumer Willis Says She Didn’t Think Sharing Her Breastfeeding Journey Would Be a ‘Big Thing’ (Exclusive)

"How would you feel if I told you to lock yourself in a little cubicle when you wanted to eat?" the actress says in response to breastfeeding shamers

When Rumer Willis started sharing her breastfeeding journey after the arrival of her daughter Louetta in April 2023, she never anticipated how polarizing her posts would become.

"I didn't think it was that big of a thing because I grew up in a naked house," the actress tells PEOPLE while discussing Cleobella's new "Do It Like a Mother" campaign. "You know what I mean? I didn't grow up in a house where we had shame about being naked, ever. I didn't think I was posting that crazy of things even for me — I know I can be a little escándalo."

Willis, 35 — the daughter of Bruce Willis, 69, and Demi Moore, 61 — says she noticed people in her comments saying breastfeeding is "a private thing."

"I'm like, 'Really? How would you feel if I told you to lock yourself in a little cubicle at the airport when you wanted to eat?' " she says. "I'm feeding my kid. It's not sexual unless you're making it that way."

Willis has noticed the same kinds of comments when she's shared partially naked pics of Louetta (whom she shares with boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas).

"I posted the cutest photo of her where you can literally see the line of her butt on my Instagram, and I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, and people literally went off on me as if I had posted an up-close photo of her vagina," she says. "They were like, 'The sexual predators. This is horrific. Shame on you.' Blah, blah, blah. You're making it sexual, but it's a crack in her butt. I've gotten stopped from posting old pictures of myself where you can see my little 3-year-old-person nipples."

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Related: Rumer Willis Says Motherhood Allowed Her to 'Tap Into a Power Greater Than' Herself (Exclusive)

Though Willis shared Louetta's face when she was first born, she's been cautious to since.

"We're in such a weird kind of world where I don't know if I should, I don't know if I should not," she says. "I don't know if by hiding her for too long, that's going to create more of a thing. It's a weird world to live in with these decisions that we have to make."

Related: Rumer Willis Says Daughter Louetta ‘Loves’ Going to See Grandpa Bruce Willis: ‘It’s So Sweet’ (Exclusive)

Despite what the critics say, Willis feels like "we're in an era that is really waking up to the power that is in motherhood."

"I know, for me, giving birth in my house and having that moment and going through that, you just tap into a power greater than yourself," she says. "I think when you give birth and you go through that transition into motherhood that it really deepens that power in yourself. Then you go through postpartum, and it's this weird, shared, lonely journey sometimes because there's so much that people don't talk about."

Related: Rumer Willis Says She Feels 'Sexier Than Ever' as Mother's Day Approaches in New Sultry Snaps: 'Unstoppable'

"I think what we've really lost in our society is a lot of the community of support in motherhood," she continues. "So I think, for me, what's so important, especially coming up to Mother's Day, is I want to create a more intentional community for women to be able to share their experiences, share their choices."

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