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The pressure to "snap back" to your prebaby body after giving birth can be overwhelming, but Halsey shared a few refreshing thoughts about their journey with their postpartum body that shine a new light on what it means to take care of yourself after a pregnancy. Following her appearance on Saturday Night Live [3], Halsey shared photos on Instagram chronicling the physical changes their body has gone through since giving birth to baby Ender Ridley Aydin [4] on July 14. While fans were quick to point out how "great" they looked on stage, Halsey took the opportunity to discuss the reality of learning to love and accept their new body.
"I am posting this because no matter what I do people are going to talk about my body," she captioned the post. "It is [a] confusing symptom of being in the public eye so rather than complain I am going to give you something real to talk about! I did SNL two nights ago and a lot of people were quick to say how good I looked. That was a weird feeling. My body has felt like a stranger's for a long time. I uphold myself to honesty to the point of over sharing sometimes but this feels important."
"A lot of people don't know that you still look pregnant for a while after. It is still changing and I am letting it."
Halsey continued, adding, "The first picture on this slide is days after my baby was already born," she continued. "A lot of people don't know that you still look pregnant for a while after. It is still changing and I am letting it. I have no interest in working out right now. I'm too tired and too busy playing with my darling son."
Halsey was also quick to reveal that her body on SNL only looked so much like it did before they gave birth because of highly specific lighting and camera angles, and the reality is that their body will never be the same. "With that being said, the body behind all those compliments the other night was wearing a custom tailored outfit and lighted perfectly after much testing, so I could feel good and do my job," she wrote. "I do not want to feed the Illusion that you're meant to feel and look 'great' immediately postpartum. That is not my narrative currently. If you've been following me because you're also a parent and you dig what I'm doing, please know I'm in your corner. I will never have my 'pre-baby body back' no matter how it changes physically because I have now had a baby! And that has altered me forever; emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That change is permanent. And I don't want to go back!"
With a 3-month-old baby to care for and a new album to promote [6], Halsey is doing their best to care for herself, too, and what that means is completely different for every individual. "In the spirit of honesty, I'm really tired and not a superhuman and this is really hard," they said. "Doing my best to serve my art and my family whilst keeping it all so very real. Love."