In July, Halsey and screenwriter Alev Aydin welcomed their first baby together, Ender Ridley Aydin. The 26-year-old was a vision of joy, taking to Instagram to make the news known to their adoring fans in a post they captioned: “Gratitude. For the most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth. Powered by love.”
Like so many parents, Halsey’s journey to pregnancy was far from smooth sailing. In 2016, the singer revealed to Rolling Stone that they’d become pregnant the year prior, just before their career launched, only to soon suffer a miscarriage directly before a show. Fearing the repercussions of having to cancel, Halsey still went ahead with the performance.
Halsey recalled in the interview: “It’s the angriest performance that I’ve ever done in my life. That was the moment of my life where I thought to myself, ‘I don’t feel like a f*****g human being anymore.’ This thing, this music, Halsey, whatever it is the I’m doing, took precedence and priority over every decision that I made regarding this entire situation from the moment I found out until the moment it went wrong. I walked offstage and went to the parking lot and just started throwing up.”
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Halsey has continued to be open with their fans. They have shared their battle with endometriosis, including a wide range of “terrifying” surgeries they underwent, and now they are showing the realities of motherhood and childbirth with an empowering post. Three weeks after giving birth to baby Ender, Halsey shared an insight into their life as a new parent with a photo dump of Ender’s nursery and their postpartum stretch marks.
Fans have been quick to praise the singer for their transparency and courage to share an unfiltered and un-retouched image. While the conversation surrounding childbirth is one that has changed significantly over the years, with more celebrities and women coming forward to share their struggles and the pressures faced during the experience, the fact remains that many still feel pressure to “bounce back” to their pre-baby bodies. With body image ideals having been inculcated into our minds for so long, it’s incredibly difficult to break free of such expectations.
But in sharing their postpartum stretch marks, Halsey is challenging such unrealistic, damaging beauty ideals surrounding post-pregnancy. As one fan commented, “Wear those tiger stripes proud mama!! Love to see it,” another wrote: “THANK YOU FOR POSTING YOUR STRETCH MARKS!!!!” Another added: “Finally a celebrity who shows imperfections after childbirth instead of a perfect toned body right after. You’re such a badass.”
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CRg7ojxLj9C/
“I love love love that you posted ur cute little stretch marks. I’m 31 weeks pregnant and I keep getting paranoid I’ll get them and having to remind myself it doesn’t matter,” said another fan.
As Glamour reports, “Despite how common stretch marks in pregnancy are – one survey found that almost half of women (46.7%) developed stretch marks in pregnancy – many of us still feel uncomfortable or even embarrassed about our stripes, and they can take a toll on our self-confidence.” Seeing celebrities embrace their stretch marks is an empowering shift in the conversation and, above all, a reminder to be kind to ourselves, to challenge toxic body ‘ideals’ and give thanks for the body we’re given and all that it can do.
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