Sure, you can (and should) read all the books and watch your mom friends in action, but nothing truly prepares you for the highs and lows (and the WTFs) of breastfeeding. Not even when you’re an A-list star. Here, 12 celeb mamas open up about the weird and wonderful world of nursing.
14 Celebrity Moms Get Real About What It’s Really Like to Breastfeed
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Published Oct 10, 2018
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Emily Blunt
In an interview with InStyle, the Mary Poppins Returns star revealed how date nights changed while she was breastfeeding. “After we got home from the hospital, I didn’t shower for a week, and then John and I were like, ‘Let’s go out for dinner,’” Blunt explained. “I could last only about an hour because my boobs were exploding. When the milk first comes in, it’s like a tsunami. But we went, just to prove to ourselves that we could feel normal for a second.”
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Chrissy Teigen
Never one to hold back, the model and presenter opened up about some of her nursing struggles with Entertainment Tonight. “The feeding schedule surprised me a lot. If you kind of do the math, you're kind of breastfeeding for ten hours a day total,” she said. “It's very loving and sweet, but it's not easy. It's hard to work your entire day around getting her the nourishment she needs because [babies] are just little animals," she added.
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Mila Kunis
When it comes to nursing in public, the actress has no time for haters. “There were many times where I didn’t bring a cover with me, and so I just did it in a restaurant, in the subway, in the park, at airports and in planes,” the Bad Moms star told Vanity Fair. “Why did I do it in public? Because I had to feed my child. She’s hungry. I need to feed her whether it’s out of a bottle or out of my boob no matter where I was.” Hear, hear.
America Ferrera
To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, Ferrera came up with a musical number that’s actually pretty catchy. “They're my boobies, and I'll feed where I want to- feed where I want to - feeeeed where I want to,” she wrote on Instagram. (See, we told you it was catchy.)
Molly Sims
The model and actress was all set to nurse her son, but plans changed when he was born with a tooth (yep, it happens). “I did nipple shields, nipple guards, supplemental nursing system, it was horrible,” People reports. “He was literally like a vampire on me for three months; it was unbelievable. Cut to: I'm not breastfeeding and I'm proud of it.”
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Adele
“All these people who put pressure on us, you can go fu** yourselves,” the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter told fans at a concert in London. “It’s hard. Some of us can’t do it—I managed about nine weeks with my boobs, and I trip over them,” the mom explained from the stage.
Selma Blair
Nervous about breastfeeding in public? Let these words from the Cruel Intentions actress to People inspire you: “We all have nipples. I don't care who I offend. My baby wants to eat. If I can't get a cover over me quick enough, so be it.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Kelly Rowland
As Rowland told Parents in 2016, sometimes nursing doesn’t work out the way you want it to. “I had my heart set on breastfeeding, but I wasn't producing enough milk,” the singer revealed. “I got down on myself, which I think was mentally limiting my supply." Eventually, Rowland supplemented with formula.
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Amanda Peet
Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actress had some explaining to do after the host showed a photo of Peet with, um, cabbage leaves in her bra. “After the babies are born [and] the milk comes in, some people get very painful engorgement and you can put cold cabbage leaves on your boobs and apparently it stops the milk,” she explained. And as for who took the photo? “This is my husband being very amused by my porno boobs even though I'm in excruciating pain,” she joked.
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Amal Clooney
The mom of twins Alexander and Ella opened up about the challenges of breastfeeding two babies simultaneously to Vogue. “When I was nursing, it was much more complicated, because there are two,” she explained. “I had all manner of weird cushions and pillows and machines.”
Whitney Port
“I thought I was doing really well and the nurses said that the latch was good,” The Hills alum said of breastfeeding her sonSonny. “But after about 24 to 48 hours of doing it, it just started to get so incredibly painful. And we came home and I just hit a breaking point and said, ‘I can’t do this. It feels as though someone is slicing my nipples with glass,’” she tearfully revealed on her YouTube channel. Thanks for sharing the tough (and often heartbreaking) side to nursing, Whit.
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Kerry Washington
The Scandal star opened up about nursing her daughter in an interview with BET's 106 & Park, explaining how breastfeeding inspired her to take care of herself. “I'm breastfeeding, so I can't starve myself,” she said. “It's important for me to be a good mom and a good actor, and be responsible to myself and my family.”
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Penélope Cruz
“I was breastfeeding my son 13 months, and I plan to do the same with my daughter. [Nursing] is addictive. It's hard when the day comes when you have to stop,” the actress said in Allure.
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Halle Berry
During a 2014 appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Berry talked about her two breastfeeding experiences. “When I would put Nahla on the boob, she would [have] a nice little girly suck,” she said. But when it came to nursing her son, the experience was very different: “Him ... he’s like sucking the life out of me!” she said.
