Hilary Duff gets real about the emotional toll it took to lose her baby weight
Hilary Duff will forever be remembered by many as Lizzie McGuire. The actress starred as the hilariously awkward middle-schooler in the teen sitcom show, which helped launch her career to star in a series of teen romance flicks after the show ended. The 30-year-old hasn't starred in much since her teenage years, making many people wonder what she's up to.
Well, since giving birth to her son Luca six years ago, it seems she's been totally enthralled in motherhood. But while her Instagram feed shows that she absolutely loves being a mother to her cheeky boy, Hilary has revealed that she struggled big time when it came to accepting how much her body had changed since giving birth.
In an honest and emotional piece she wrote with Women's Health, Hilary revealed that it's not always so easy to "bounce back". She says the way she felt about her body after giving birth "really sucked" and it took some time to overcome that mentality.
"Being a new mom was one of the happiest times of my life, but how I felt about my body really sucked," she revealed.
The 30-year-old said she "held onto all the 'baby weight' for a long time", adding that she didn't seem to "bounce back" as easily as everyone around her.
"I wasn't one of those women who just could nurse and lose the weight. Some people bounce back and don't have to deal with that, and that's wonderful for them. But for me, it was so hard to connect with my body again once I had a baby."
She described a moment in which she left the house for the first time after giving birth, when Luca was around two-weeks old, where she was photographed by paparazzi and ended up in tabloids for "debuting" her post-baby body. "I remember thinking, I'm not debuting anything! That pressure was so tough to deal with," she recalled.
Hilary says she was more concerned about nurturing her young son in the first few months of his life, and that it was "far more important than me trying to get in shape right away".
"It wasn't until my mind adjusted to not caring as much that I started to figure it all out. I realized that I am never going to be the same again, and that's okay. I've learned to be proud of what my body does for me, and what it did while I was pregnant with my son."
Losing the baby weight was absolutely not her priority, but when she did eventually focus on slimming down again, she found it difficult given her particular body type.
"Now, I'm happy to say that I have a pretty healthy relationship with my body. Of course, I'm 5'2", so any kind of weight that I gain, I see it right away. And sure, I want to look good in my jeans, and I want to feel and look good. But I don't need to be a super-skinny person. I'm normal, and I have a good relationship with food and indulging myself while being healthy and giving my body what it needs."
While she's confident about her body, she did point out the immense pressure many women feel about looking "super-skinny":
"It's hard for women every day, no matter what, to love their bodies. There's pressures just from your friends and how they look, and trying to keep up.
"It's terrible that skinny is beautiful. There's a new version of skinny that's just...unreachable. It's a really bad look. If we can just try to celebrate being individuals, and try to feel good instead of trying to fit in, I think that would be huge."
Thanks for keeping it real, Hilary.