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GALLERY: Celebrities who celebrate their post-baby bodies

post baby body
Andrea Caamano
Website Editor
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From Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet to Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively, celebrities are becoming increasingly vocal about their "post-baby bodies" and the pressure they feel to lose weight quickly after giving birth.

Now, more than ever, Hollywood mums want to inspire women to love their bodies following the birth of their children, and to just enjoy the experience. Your body is "the site of a miracle," says Kerry Washington.

Zooey Deschanel adds: "To expect someone to look like her pre-baby self immediately is odd, because you just grew a human and then birthed that human — there's a lot that needs to go back to where it was. All your organs move around, for Christ's sake!"

See our gallery of celebrity mums speaking out on post-baby body and weight loss, and be inspired!

blake lively© Photo: Getty Images

Blake Lively

"I think a woman's body after having a baby is pretty amazing... You don't need to be Victoria's Secret-ready right away because you just did the most incredible miracle that life has to offer. I mean, you gave birth to a human being! So I would really like to see that celebrated", the mother-of-two told Australian talk show Sunrise during the promotion of her film The Shallows, which was filmed just eight months after the birth of her first child.

jools© Photo: Instagram

Jools Oliver

After fans took offence to a picture in which new mum Jools showed how happy she was to be back in her pre-pregnancy trousers, the mother-of-five defended her actions.

"Honestly, it's about the trousers!! I didn't even think about my weight!!" she wrote. "For god sake, I still have heaps to lose, as I said earlier my t-shirt hides a lot!! "I am confident with my body before, during and after pregnancy and totally get that things don't go back to normal for at least 6 months to a year."

keira knightley© Photo: Getty Images

Keira Knightley

Having a baby helped Keira, 32, stop hating certain parts of her body. "[I] have to say, as a woman, you hate certain parts of your body. You go through those periods where you look in the mirror and you think, Oh, if only I had different legs or arms or whatever. You go through pregnancy and labour and then feeding the kid and you go, 'Wow, my body is totally amazing, and I'm never going to not like it again, because it did this, and this is extraordinary.'"

pink post baby body© Photo: Instagram

Pink

Following the birth of baby number 2, the singer revealed she was in no rush to lose the weight she had gained.

The So What singer, who welcomed her baby boy in December, shared an empowering message with her fans on Instagram, urging them not to focus on the scales.

Posting a photo of herself in fitness gear with weights and an exercise ball in the background, Pink wrote: "Would you believe I'm 160 pounds and 5'3"? By 'regular standards' that makes me obese. I know I'm not at my goal or anywhere near it after Baby 2 but dammit I don't feel obese. The only thing I'm feeling is myself. Stay off that scale ladies!"

olivia wilde© Photo: Instagram

Olivia Wilde

Speaking to Shape magazine in 2015, the mum-of-two said: "I believe in a world where mothers are not expected to shed any physical evidence of their child-bearing experience. 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. I'd rather rebuild my strength while dancing my ass off...literally."

rebekah vardy© Photo: Instagram

Rebekah Vardy

After being labelled "huge" by Twitter trolls following the arrival of her fourth child, the 34-year-old confessed she is "proud" of her body for going through pregnancy.

"I think I look pretty good for a woman who gave birth in January and Jamie thinks so too," she said. "I'm proud of what my body has achieved. I carried all my children for nine months and my body changed constantly to provide for them."

anne hathaway© Photo: Getty Images

Anne Hathaway

Last summer, just three months after welcoming her first son Jonathan into the world, Anne Hathaway revealed how she was coping with her post-baby body in a very inspiring Instagram post.

"There is no shame in gaining weight during pregnancy (or ever). There is no shame if it takes longer than you think it will to lose the weight (if you want to lose it at all). There is no shame in finally breaking down and making your own jean shorts because last summer's are just too dang short for this summer's thighs. Bodies change. Bodies grow. Bodies shrink. It's all love (don't let anyone tell you otherwise.) Peace xx #noshame #lovewhatyouhavebeengiven."

giovanna© Photo: Instagram

Giovanna Fletcher

After welcoming her second child, HELLO! Online blogger Giovanna defiantly shared a photo showing her post-pregnancy body and said she was "thankful" to her bump for bringing her "even more love and light than I knew possible".

"A few days ago I had a near stranger point at my stomach, laugh and say 'Oh look, Mummy's still got her tummy'. This was eleven days after giving birth. I was so shocked I laughed. But the words have stuck with me. Obviously. It wasn't left there either as there was another comment about my face 'slimming down'."

Giovanna added that she was "baffled" as to why the stranger felt the need to comment on her bump, before going on to share her personal thoughts about her body and why new mums should love their post-pregnancy figures.

"Yes, I still have a bump. But that bump kept my little baby boy safe for a whole nine months," Giovanna wrote. "That bump has filled my world with even more love and light than I knew possible. That bump is a miracle worker… My bump will slowly go over time, but I'll never stop being thankful to it and my body for everything it's given me."

kerry washington© Photo: Getty Images

Kerry Washington

The actress and certified yoga instructor told Self magazine that following the birth of her first child she had embraced her 'new' body. "My body is the site of a miracle right now. I don't want to be pre-miracle," she said.

And when her manager commented that she was starting to look more like her pre-baby self, the 40-year-old said: "She meant it as a total compliment, but we had this great conversation where I was like, 'You know what? I try really hard not to use that language, because it's not about going backward in life.' I've been really focused on not being 'back' to anything, but being the best version of myself right now.'"

kate winslet© Photo: Getty Images

Kate Winslet

The Titanic star spoke out against the pressure put on women and their bodies in an interview with Stylist magazine in 2015.

"You know, it keeps coming up and people keeping saying "Look how great she looks three weeks post-baby. Wow, fantastic!' Not wow fantastic, wow sick, I mean that's not right, it's not possible.

"My little boy is 16 months old now and honestly it's really only in the last three or four months that I've truly felt completely back to where I was before I had him. And that's the right way round."

amy adams© Photo: Getty Images

Amy Adams

After welcoming her daughter Aviana in 2010, the Enchanted actress opened up to Parade magazine about how pregnancy had helped her understand her body better. "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 told the magazine.

"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."

The star, 42, also revealed her relaxed approach to getting back into shape. "I've been working out when I can, and I'm trying to eat in a healthful way, but losing weight is not my number one priority. It's part of my job to return to some semblance of what I was before. But I don't feel I've ever made my career on my rockin' bod."

drew barrymore© Photo: Instagram

Drew Barrymore

Although Drew loves to exercise, spending time with her children is more important. "I never looked good in a bathing suit, so now I look worse in a bathing suit. I have cellulite. But I would much rather have my kids and look a little worse in a bathing suit!" she told People magazine.

The star also spoke of the importance of having a supporting partner by your side. "I think that's really important for women to have someone who really makes you feel good about yourself because that would be a giant disadvantage to your process of making babies or just being a woman in general to have someone make you feel like you had to be a certain way to turn them on or to be beautiful in their eyes," she said.

jen ellen

Jennifer Garner

After months of speculation about a possible pregnancy, Jennifer Garner proudly defended her post-baby body on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show. 

"I am not pregnant, but I have had three kids and there is a bump," said the actress. "From now on, ladies, I will have a bump, and it will be my baby bump. It's not going anywhere," she continued. "Its name is Violet, Sam and Sera."

jennifer love hewitt© Photo: Twitter

Jennifer Love-Hewitt

Speaking to Us Weekly, the mum-of-two said: "I really thought I was going to be super consumed with trying to get my body back to the way it was before, and now that I'm a mum, 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."

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Kristina Rihanoff

It took the former Strictly Come Dancing dancer seven months to bounce back to her pre-baby weight – seemingly without effort. But the HELLO! Online blogger has insisted that it wasn't at all easy.

"The truth is, it wasn't an easy process whatsoever," said Kristina. "I was very open saying I will not diet while I'm breastfeeding, I will not stress myself over losing the baby weight. It will go when it has to go, basically.

"It wasn't easy, it took me seven months to get to where I am. I still have a little baby pouch and it will probably never go, my skin's been stretched and it'll probably stay there for the rest of my life but hey, we're mums and we're proud of our bodies! We shouldn't be forced to lose our baby weight immediately. If it takes one year, wonderful. If it takes three years, wonderful. If it takes you longer, wonderful!"

zooey deschanel© Photo: Getty Images

Zooey Deschanel

According to the New Girl star, mothers should take their time to try and get back into shape after giving birth.

"To expect someone to look like her pre-baby self immediately is odd," she says. "Because you just grew a human and then birthed that human — there's a lot that needs to go back to where it was. All your organs move around, for Christ's sake!"

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