Kristen Bell pumped breast milk during a “Bad Moms” script read, and here’s why that matters

It’s a funny story, but also an important one. While promoting A Bad Moms Christmas on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Kristen Bell revealed she pumped breast milk during a script read. The moment happened back in 2016, when the cast had gotten together for the first film. Well — sort of. While castmates Kathryn Hahn and Mila Kunis were in the same room together, Bell was Skyped in.

"Kathryn and I are next to each other and K.Bell’s just on a giant screen Skyped in," Kunis revealed. "And as we’re reading the script you see her face just getting closer and closer into the screen and the rest of her body going out of the screen. It was just a giant face."

According to Kunis, the cast then heard a buzzing noise — a noise familiar to many moms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeVRanX_dNc?feature=oembed

The best part about it is that Bell wasn’t apologetic over pumping during the meeting — nor should she be.

"I didn’t know I was on a movie projector. I would have loved a heads up," she said. "I thought it was like, ‘We’re going to Skype in. It’s going to be on a computer.’ And I was home because I wasn’t going early because I still had a little one and I needed to pump. And I’m sorry when you gotta do it, you gotta do it."

Bell also said that the guys in the room were a little less familiar with the distinct noise a pump makes.

"The boys in the room were like, ‘There’s static on that, can we check that call line? It’s fuzzy,’" said Bell. "And Mila and Kathryn were like, 'She’s fine. Let’s just keep rehearsing.' They were covering for me."

Balancing the demands of work and motherhood is an extremely challenging feat, and we’re glad that Bell decided to share the story. While definitely funny, this also reminds us that there is still stigma around pumping and breastfeeding — aka, a 100% natural human process. Pumping breast milk or breastfeeding in a public situation shouldn’t be seen as inappropriate or awkward — it should be viewed as a perfectly normal act to help provide for a child, and we’re all about Bell unapologetically going for it.

Thanks, ladies, for (hilariously) chipping away at pumping-shame.