Seemingly gone are the days of exuberant pregnancy announcements like Demi Moore’s 1991 Vanity Fair cover shoot, or Beyoncé’s Botticelli-esque 2017 pregnancy photo shoot. In both instances these famous women bared their bumps with pride and exuded goddess-like beauty. Now pregnant celebrities are guarding the news that they are expecting closer to their chests. Why is that? Possibly because no matter when a woman, celebrity or not, announces she is expecting, they are flooded with opinions. For celebrities this is amplified. Social media allows for anyone to share their opinion on everything, and unfortunately for women the opinions tend to be negative, judgmental, and downright misogynistic. The culture around celebrity pregnancy announcements is changing. Who would want to reveal to the world that they are pregnant if it will be met with judgment and sexist commentary.
Recently celebrities like Kali Uchis, Halle Bailey, and Suki Waterhouse all revealed they are or had been pregnant. And each mother-to-be kept the announcement secret to them until they felt ready to share it with the world. While speaking with Billboard Kali Uchis explained that, “my music is supposed to be in the forefront, my private life and personal matters, I really don’t want that to be something that is consuming or overshadowing my work.” Women should be able to celebrate having a child without their success and professional goals being diminished. Halle Bailey did not make any pregnancy announcements until her son was born and she ended her Instagram caption with a poke at how many people had been speculating she was pregnant, by saying, “welcome to the world my halo…the world is desperate to know you.” This seemed to be Bailey’s playful way of pushing back at all of the comments about her body and lack of respect for her privacy. Suki Waterhouse announced her pregnancy at one of her shows. Unfortunately most comments about Waterhouse during her pregnancy were also about her body. It seems that most people do not understand the magnitude of what happens to a woman while pregnant. With female celebrities facing scrutiny in every facet of their lives, is it not surprising that celebrity pregnancy announcements are becoming less of a spectacle and more intimate, private experiences?
Letting the world know you are pregnant is a choice, yet society seems to think they are entitled to know all the personal details. If a female celebrity is in a relationship, all the world wants to know is when marriage and babies will happen. Then, if a woman does choose to have kids, there is a flood of judgment and criticisms of what kind of mother she will be. Specifically for female celebrities, the idea of their home life, relationships, and motherhood take precedence over the accomplishments in their career. The double standard between male and female celebrities cannot be more clear than how women are treated once they become mothers, versus men when they become fathers.
We have all seen the questions asked of celebrity mothers like “who is watching your children tonight?” This question is rarely asked of fathers in the public eye. That is because in our society fathers are not seen as the primary caregivers. Of course pregnancy affects mothers and fathers unequally. Mothers carry the child and deal with the physical, mental, and emotional challenges, but that does not mean they should receive a disproportionate amount of criticism or judgment or that the responsibility of caring for a child should rest solely on the shoulders of women. This view is also unfair and damaging to men as they are viewed as uncaring, and not parental. Fathers and mothers both deserve to be uplifted should they choose to become parents. All women should be able to determine if they want to share that they are pregnant, and if they do choose to share the news they should not have to face criticism about their bodies, or their parenting.