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Laura Whitmore sure is great at keeping a secret. The television presenter, who announced the news of her pregnancy [3] with Love Island narrator Iain Sterling yesterday, shared a series of images from her recent maternity shoot with Hunger TV — and it's a refreshing take on the power of motherhood and the female gaze.
The three photographs [4] of Whitmore, shot by Claire Rothstein, features the presenter posing in very dominant and self-assured positions, wearing a mixture of black latex underwear with a denim jacket, a black leather trench coat with pointed-toe black heels, and black lace underwear under a sheer, peach organza shirt.
"It's really surreal. It's mad. Nothing and no one ever tells you that it is your own personal experience," Whitmore told Ryan Cahill [5] for Hunger. "One thing I've learned is that everyone has an opinion: what you should be doing, or how you should be feeling. I found the first three months really hard because I was very sick and nauseous. There were a few times on live radio where I actually got physically sick during the show. I had one guest in the studio and to this day she still doesn't know that I'm pregnant, and I think she just thought I was hungover. I had to run out of the studio and she had to ask herself her own question live on air because I had disappeared! I can't even describe it because every week is so different. And just trying to do everything! I'm someone who doesn't like to stop so work has been busy. We were filming Celeb Juice in the studio. When we film that show, it's such a show that feels like a night out. Everyone is drinking around me. I've filmed a whole season of Celeb Juice sober, and nobody knew!"
"What I've learnt in life is that planning doesn't work. Things just happen. Nothing this year has been a plan! I think everything happens for a reason, as soon as you try to control things, in some ways that is out of your hands. I feel very lucky and blessed. As a timing thing, it probably wasn't something that we thought about, it was a nice surprise. So I'm due at the beginning of next year and I think things just fall into place. Winter Love Island was never going to be able to happen in Cape Town next year because of COVID-19, Iain [Stirling's] tour was postponed, he was supposed to be away the whole year, and now everything has been moved back until after March. We couldn't have planned that. So we're going to be a home a lot more for this particular time. Even the radio show that I do every week, and now I'm doing it at home. I can wear my slippers which is great!"
Photo courtesy of Claire Rothstein for Hunger, words by Ryan Cahill, fashion by Dee Moran, hair by Sophie Sugarman, makeup by Tori Ball, nails by Michelle Class, with styling assistance by Daniel Gray, and props by Anemone Interiors.