Even as more people have become aware of the inanity of “post-baby body” articles that pop up after famous women give birth, that hasn’t stopped celebrity rags from indulging in this tradition. See: People’s story this month about Megan Fox posing in lingerie “post-baby.” Or last summer, when Chrissy Teigen’s “post-baby body” was a subject of obsession. Even still, OK! is stuck on it: “WOW! This New Pic Of Chrissy Teigen in A Swimsuit Will Give You Post-Baby Body Goals.”
Kerry Washington, who had her second kid, a boy, in October 2016, says in her case, seeing rumors that suggested she began working out right after pregnancy upset her. She told People in a recent interview:
“My doctor made me take my six weeks off, and I did,” says Washington, 40. “It was really important to me to have that downtime and then start working out slowly, which I’m still doing, I am still slowly getting back into it.”
But she didn’t want to contribute to “post-baby body” expectations:
“It was rumored somewhere that I was working out a week or two after he was born and it really upset me, actually. I never talk about rumors in the media, but I was really sad that somebody printed that because I felt like, ‘Oh, that makes women feel like they have to start working out’ — like, ‘Oh, celebrities work out right away.’ And I was like, ‘No way!’”
Kerry works out a lot but says she did not work out a week after labor, although, to be fair, part of that was her following doctor’s orders. She had a similar critique about the pressure to bounce back, after having her daughter in 2014.