Teejay Sidhu Opens Up About Getting Shamed For Looking ‘Too Skinny’ During Pregnancy

My best friend had a baby earlier this year and she is having a difficult time right now. Don’t get me wrong here, totally not trying to propagate anything against motherhood. And just FYI, my friend loves her baby. It is her body that she has been having a troubled relationship with. She put on more than 12 kgs during her pregnancy and while she has never been a person too concerned about her body weight, her husband and in-laws have been constantly jibing at her and ridiculing her for the weight gain. Oh btw, these were the same people who pressurised her into having a baby in the first place!

But then that’s the case with a lot of new mothers and their postpartum bodies, right? That said, you’d think it’s easier for women who don’t put on too much weight during pregnancy. Well, if we were to go by expecting mother Teejay Sidhu, actor Karanvir Bohra’s wife, then that’s really not the case. She recently took to Instagram to talk about how she has been questioned for looking “took skinny” during her pregnancy.

She posted a picture of herself with the baby bump and wrote in a long caption, “People tell me I’m too skinny, that I should be heavier, especially since I’m expecting. (This is my 5 months pregnancy pic.) But for me, putting on has never been easy. And in the first trimester, I had terrible nausea, couldn’t eat anything! (There was no ‘pregnancy glow!’) Now I eat properly, I’ve put on weight, but still, it only shows on my tummy.”

Teejay further added as an advice to all the moms-to-be, “I’d tell any expecting mom, whether you’re thin/heavy, embrace your maternity body. Don’t overthink what you ‘should’ look like. As long as you are healthy, there is no ‘ideal’ weight. Every pregnancy body is different – love yours, just as it is.”

Well, kudos to Teejay for putting it so well. However, I am compelled to ask here: when will women finally get rid of the narrative of body shaming? or are we always going to remain “too fat,” “too thin,” “too flawed?” Can’t the society chill a bit, let us enjoy our bodies just as they are without constantly keeping us under the scanner? Also, every woman experiences pregnancy differently and we don’t get to shame or judge anyone for their individual journey. Lastly, I’d slightly borrow from Rachel Green when I say, “no baby in the uterus, no opinion!”

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