I had a pregnancy that wasn't private... A lot of people had their opinions about it. They were surprised that I came up pregnant, which was a surprise to me, because I'm a woman, and women get pregnant, and Lauren comes first before the actress, so having my son was the best thing that ever happened to me.
What has surprised me most about being a celebrity is the fascination with pregnant women. After I had Rocco, the paparazzi came and sought me out. I never had that before. There's a whole industry, literally, based on people having children. I guess because you're changing, putting on weight. It makes me very uncomfortable. I didn't enjoy that much at all.
I remember when I got pregnant, I had several peers of mine, women, who said to me, 'Now that you're pregnant, you're probably gonna give up the music thing, right?' I was like, 'I'm not crippled. I'm just having a baby.'
I think people are uncomfortable seeing pregnant women, particularly with any kind of conflict. [Pregnancy is] very much a projection of life and love, but it's also very complicated. People have very complicated pregnancies. They could be accidental or people suffer depression, and that was a really interesting thing for me. And a challenging thing. I have not been pregnant. I don't know what that's like, let alone to be really conflicted about it. Acting in the film about pregnancy was a really interesting thing to do.
I became a vegetarian for about maybe a year. It was more of a little detox for me. I tend to do a lot of detoxes. I was on the Body Ecology Diet before I got pregnant, which I believe is one of the reasons I was able to get pregnant.
Beyond the immediate risks to her health and the health of her baby, when a woman chooses c-section, she decreases the chance that she will be able to get pregnant again and increases the chance that if she does get pregnant, the pregnancy will occur outside the uterus, a situation that never results in a live baby and is life-threatening to the woman. Furthermore, the risk of having an unexplained stillbirth doubles when a woman has had a previous c-section.
I thought, 'When I get pregnant, someone will be looking for a pregnant woman. I'll do a movie about a pregnant woman.' But that didn't happen.
Women of color, particularly Black girls from economically challenged strati, we are told from the minute you start showing signs of being able to be impregnated: Don't get pregnant. You can't have sex because you might get pregnant. You can't wear short shorts because you might get pregnant. Don't talk to boys because you might get pregnant.
The Greatest Pregnancy Ever is a treasure. It should be the very first thing a pregnant woman reads - in fact, every woman who intends to have a baby will be thrilled with the empowering message here.
When I do get pregnant, I highly doubt I'll be one of those women who don't look pregnant from behind - I'll be that chick who looks pregnant from her ankles up!
I am so looking forward to it. I made sure I had a strong foundation before I became pregnant and I think that's the most important thing. There were a lot of things that I wanted to do personally so that when the time came, I really knew who I was and could be the best mother.
I remember one day I came home and shouted to my grandmother, "Grandma, Sarah is pregnant!" Poor Sarah! For weeks before I had read how difficult it was for her to get pregnant. "Grandma! I have news for you!" "What did you learn?" "I have news, Grandma: Sarah is pregnant!" [Genesis 16 - 21].
With me being in so many pain from when you have a betrayal from your best friend - who was my husband - and the girl got pregnant, I couldn't even get out of bed. The only thing that saved me was my stand-up. I would get on stage and just talk about stuff, and I made people laugh. A lot of women e-mail me and say, 'How do you smile? How do you laugh at something like this?' That's how I do it. I laugh because that's how I get through pain.
I've had chapters in my work life that have kind of coincided with the place I am in mine. I had the best-friend phase, and the pregnant-woman phase - for a while, I was pregnant in every movie.
When I found out I was pregnant, the first thing that had to go was the acne medicine and chemical-filled face washes and lotions. I made sure everything was natural and organic, and I started reading blogs by other pregnant women.
Do men drop out of college because they get someone pregnant? Do they quit their job if they get someone pregnant? No. And we do not require men to support women they have made pregnant. Once the baby is born, there can be child support. Before that, though, no.
Number one, I am somebody who is in shape before I get pregnant. I get in pregnant shape because it's not my normal shape, obviously. I get bigger when I'm pregnant. But I stay in pregnant shape and I work really hard to be really strong and keep my circulation going.