Celebs are getting so real about their post-baby bodies and we love it

Lately, we’ve been feeling incredibly excited, inspired, and empowered by Rachel Hollis and the picture she posted to the interwebz of her post-baby body in a bikini. Her caption read: “I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy . . . (which is something I didn’t even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could.”

That’s a message we can totally get behind, and clearly thousands of other women can too, because the pic has gone totally, insanely, happily viral. We’re super excited that Rachel brought this issue of post-baby body image to the spotlight, and we are heartened to see celebs also breaking honest on what their post-baby bodies look like sans Photoshop, professional make up, and flattering lighting. In the latest issue of Shape Olivia Wilde speaks about her own post pregnancy experience.

Wilde wrote her own profile (because, duh, she’s fabulous), and she concentrated heavily on how she’s physically changed since her son Otis Alexander was born 11 months ago. “I am not in perfect shape. In fact, I’m softer than I’ve ever been, including that unfortunate semester in high school when I simultaneously discovered Krispy Kreme and pot,” she wrote in Shape. “The photos of me in this magazine have been generously constructed to show my best angles, and I assure you, good lighting has been warmly embraced. The truth is, I’m a mother, and I look like one.”

She also explains that mothers won’t be able to adopt their perfect pre-baby life right away, and that’s OK! “If I wasn’t at work, I just wanted to stay home and party with my little man — and by ‘party’ I mean, of course, endless rounds of the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider,’” she writes. “Also, I like beer. And pizza. And these two ingredients are not found in the purely fictional book I like to call How to Look Like You Never Made a Human: A Guide to Socially Acceptable Motherhood.”

The main theme of this empowering Wilde written profile? Love your body for the amazing things it has done, stretch marks and all. “I believe in a world where mothers are not expected to shed any physical evidence of their child-bearing experience,” writes Wilde. “In that same world I believe there is space for exercise to be as much a gift to your brain as it is your body. I don’t want to waste my time striving for some subjective definition of perfection.”

We are LOVING this real talk, and we thought it would be a good time to bring up other fabulous lady celebs who have focused on loving their children and their amazing bodies instead of striving for an unattainable ideal. You go, girls.

Amy Adams

We’ve always adored actress Amy Adams, but her refreshing take on post-baby bodies made us fall for her even more.

After the birth of her little one, Aviana, Adams explained to Parade the importance of recognizing that your body is more than a fit body. “Being pregnant finally helped me understand what my true relationship was with my body — meaning that it wasn’t put on this earth to look good in a swimsuit,” she said. “I was like, ‘Look, I can carry a baby! I’m gaining weight right, everything’s going well.’ And I’ve had that relationship ever since.”

Kate Winslet

This one might not come as a surprise, since Kate has been the leader in the body-image revolution for ages, but she has spoken out more than once about the importance of loving yourself after pregnancy.

“We have one life,” she told Time Out Magazine. “I don’t want to spend my time thinking about the size of my arse. I want to be as healthy as I can be, and I want to have as much fun as I can have. I want to be around for my children. That’s it. Those are the priorities. Not getting a flat stomach. . . . I just believe in being normal and healthy.”

Winslet has also explained that she has a “crumble baby belly” and boobs that are “far worse for wear after two kids [she has three now BTW]” but that she tells herself “This is who I am, and look at me not being perfect!” Oh Kate, you’re a breath of fresh air.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Our girl Jennifer didn’t think that losing weight should be a priority right after giving birth, which she told Us Weekly shortly after the birth of her little one back in 2014.

“I really thought I was going to be super consumed with trying to get my body back to the way it was before,” said Hewitt, “and now that I’m a mom, I’m like, I don’t want to be that girl again because that girl didn’t have a baby and didn’t have a great husband and didn’t have this blissful existence that I’m having now.”

We totally love the refreshing take that these powerful women have on post-baby body image. Thanks, ladies! With the constant barrage of unrealistic body expectations dominating our lives, it’s incredibly important when super-powerful ladies just get real. The bottom line is we’re all humans, we’re women, and we’re in this together.

[Photos , , , via]