Welcoming a new life in this world is one of the most beautiful experiences for a parent. But, while we are always looking at the brighter side of pregnancy, we forget that there’s a lot more to this experience. Few people talk about the difficult aspects of the nine-month journey and postpartum stress that many new moms face. Recently, new mom Anushka Sharma had opened up about the tough deets of her pregnancy and now, Neha Dhupia shared details of the postpartum stress that she had to go through.
Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Mehr, the same year in November. However, soon after Mehr’s birth, the actress was trolled for her weight and career in Bollywood.
In an interview to a leading daily, Neha revealed that she had gained around 24 kgs during her pregnancy and was criticised for it. She said, “You have this beautiful life that you are carrying inside you and suddenly, life is outside, you feel weird when you see yourself. Being in the public eye, everyone is not fortunate enough that we go through pregnancy where they don’t put on weight. I put on 23-25 kilos.”
She added that people’s reaction ranged “from getting fat-shamed to people passing judgment to saying that my life and career have come to a halt.” However, the Roadies gang leader did not let those comments get to her and utilised her time to lose weight at her own pace during the recent lockdowns. She said, “During lockdown, one of the things that I did was not worry about what people said about me but I took those eight months to lose 21 kilos.”
Neha also opened up about the phase where she went through postpartum stress and felt everything at once. She explained that she knew that she going through ‘something’ and said, “Sometimes, it felt like I was going through something; sometimes, I felt like I was going through a lot. All of that put together…later on, I understood that it is all postpartum. Whether it is feeling extremely emotional or extremely low.”
She also explained that a lot of that stress had to do with how different she looked and her body. She added, “For me, the biggest thing is, as soon as you give birth, you feel that void because your body is different, you question whether you are going to go back to being… Especially, people like us, who are so used to being in front of the camera. As much as we own our bodies and own the life that we are living, apne andar se ek ehsaas hota hai ki (there is a feeling within that) will I go back to what I was or will I go back to being at least what I want to be? There is a beautiful saying, which is that everyone is there to hug the baby but who is there to hug the mom.”
We are glad that Neha shared an honest take on her postpartum experience and hope that it will give much-needed insight to all new moms out there.
Featured Image: Instagram
