TAKE a bow, Rihanna – thanks for saying something that is long overdue. Singer, entrepreneur and now a maternity fashion icon, Rih declared at the weekend that she feels sexier than ever — even though she is pregnant. The S&M singer, who is having a baby with partner A$AP Rocky, said: “When women get pregnant, […]
TAKE a bow, Rihanna – thanks for saying something that is long overdue.
Singer, entrepreneur and now a maternity fashion icon, Rih declared at the weekend that she feels sexier than ever — even though she is pregnant.
The S&M singer, who is having a baby with partner A$AP Rocky, said: “When women get pregnant, society tends to make it feel like you hide, hide your sexy, and that you’re not sexy right now (but) you’ll get back there and I don’t believe in that sh*t.
“So I’m trying stuff that I might not have even had the confidence to try before I was pregnant. The strappiest, the thinnest and the more cut-outs the better for me.”
The lingerie and make-up mogul added: “My boobs have been growing by the week.”
I couldn’t agree with her philosophy more. When I was pregnant with my son Jude, now two, I felt reborn. But as I browsed through maternity underwear aisles in M&S, all I found were beige and grey granny bras.
While society expected me to feel frumpy, I felt like a goddess.
I had newfound assets and I wanted to show them off. Just like Rihanna, who has been parading her bump and boobs in skimpy dresses and flesh-flashing ensembles, I wanted to show it ALL off.
Don’t get me wrong, I was surprised. I had been conditioned to believe the words “pregnant” and “sexy” should never go together, but I honestly had never felt sexier.
As women, we are led to believe we’ll feel bloated, uncomfortable and undesirable when pregnant but the opposite happened to me.
After the sickness and tiredness passed from the first trimester, I felt like a modern-day Venus, sexy and desired. Friends and family would comment on my “glow”.
Perhaps it was the fact I’d ditched booze, junk food, caffeine and social smoking and had adopted a healthy diet for my baby.
What’s more, I was no longer going out partying until the early hours and was getting plenty of sleep. Instead of starting my day with a calorific Starbucks latte I’d have a home-made smoothie.
I wanted to give my son as much nourishment as possible but my new healthy diet also had an amazing impact on me — in and out of the bedroom. I noticed my libido had increased and my orgasms were longer and more intense.
When I joked about this to my midwife, she laughed and said it wasn’t unusual. “Many women report this,” she said with a smile. “It’s because of the hormones coursing through your body. There’s more blood flow to your pelvic area, increasing your pleasure.”
By the end of the second trimester, my skin, hair and nails had improved and my boobs had ballooned from a 32C/D to a 32E. I loved my new curves and so did my partner.
Despite my bump, I’d notice guys sneakily checking me out on public transport and my friends would laugh if they caught a guy looking.
But finding sexy clothes to reflect how I was feeling inside was hard.
Unlike the celebrities sexing up their maternity wardrobes with ease — from models Ashley Graham and Emily Ratajkowski to reality star Kylie Jenner — I wasn’t able to find what I wanted on the high street pregnancy clobber rails.
Most stores stocked frumpy clothes and had a limited range. The subliminal message was clear — you’re a mummy now, hang up your kinky boots! But I wasn’t having any of that.
I shunned those ugly maternity bras and wore pretty bralettes in bigger sizes and sexy slip dresses. I wanted to show my impressive cleavage off and wear low-cut dresses and sexy underwear.
Admittedly, I wasn’t wearing belly tops like Rihanna to the office, but I was wearing short dresses, plunging necklines and bikinis in my time off.
When I was 37 weeks pregnant I went to an aqua-aerobics class at my local pool and got a lot of strange looks because I was wearing a skimpy, red two-piece. On reflection, it wasn’t very practical, but who cares? I felt good in it.
At 38 weeks I had a boudoir photoshoot and was painted gold and green in bodypaint and posed naked. It was totally boujee, like something a celebrity would do, but I felt like an A-lister, pregnant.
I have a big picture printed from the shoot in my bedroom, a reminder of how good I felt when I was expecting — one of the happiest moments of my life. My family think it’s bonkers and laugh whenever they see it, but I love it.
After my son was born I missed my bump, I felt a part of me was missing. As I was breastfeeding I kept my boobs for a while.
I’m glad Rihanna is flying the flag for pregnant women and telling them that it’s okay to be pregnant and still be desirable and sexy.
I’ve heard bitchy comments from people like, “You’d think she was the only woman in the world to ever be pregnant,” but they miss the point.
To Rihanna, and to quote her song, she is the ONLY girl in the world right now. It’s great that she’s happy and loving how she looks.
I hope she’s getting lots of action, too. I did!
