I’ve always admired Demi Moore as an actress, but also for her amazing body that she (unlike a lot of celebrities) admits she works hard for.
Somehow in my head she was excused from the usual body image issues most women seem to struggle with.
She seems to just exude body confidence.
So I admit, I was a little surprised that she — someone who was the first pregnant woman to pose naked on a magazine cover and who has since graced countless covers, well into her 40s — could have had any body image issues of her own, especially since she has one of the most coveted figures in Hollywood.
And now at 47, she and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, are talking about having a baby of their own. She opened up about how she hopes this time, it will be different.
In this recent People article shared with me by a friend, Demi says something that (I think) can only be truly understood through experience.
As for being a real-life mom, Moore suggests that next time around she might be less concerned with the effect a pregnancy could have on her figure.
“I had an extreme obsession with my body. I made it a measure of my own value. I tried to dominate it, which I did, and I changed it multiple times over,” she says. “But it never lasted and ultimately it didn’t bring me anything but temporary happiness. Does being thin resolve anything? No.”
She adds, “The irony is that when I abandoned that desire to dominate my body, it actually became the body that I always wanted. But it only happened when I stopped trying to control it. At the end of the day, this kind of obsession is pointless and meaningless.”
Wow. Not the kind of thing you expect to hear out of the mouth of a huge celebrity, right? I really appreciated hearing her honesty.
And I think Moore’s message is one we can all learn from, especially those of us (like myself) who have had issues in the past and are thinking about becoming moms in the next few years. Our bodies are not meant to be dominated or conquered, but rather loved and embraced.
It’s not an easy lesson to learn — and I’d be lying if I said I was 100% there — but I think there’s a lot of validity to what she says and hope to keep that in perspective when the time comes.
How about you? If you’ve been pregnant/are pregnant, how did it affect how you perceived yourself from a body image standpoint?
Let There Be Light 
Wow! I love what Demi had to say about her body–I was just thinking about this very topic this weekend. I had a rough week with eating and exercise and not feeling well and was beginning to beat myself up for “letting myself go” for a few days. WHAT?? I cannot believe myself sometimes and how mean I can be to ME! It’s not helping anything–it’s actually making things worse.
What she said about the temporary happiness is true! I had that exact thought. I just need to figure out how to be happy when food/exercise aren’t going like I *think* they should. Part of my problem is that I gave up sugar for Lent and even though it was REALLY hard and made me cranky, it was good. I felt good physically. Then Lent ended and sugar came back and ugh.
Anyway, I’ve been pregnant 3 times and LOVED my body because I stopped thinking about trying to control it and just let it do it’s thing. I felt great about my body the bigger it got. Weird. However, by the 9th month (I went 42 weeks with each baby), I was done with it and ready to lose the baby weight by the time I gave birth. It was like I could only take being that big for a few months and then … poof…done with it. I kept thinking about how really large people had to carry that weight all the time and how miserable it must be after a while. I was thankful it was only temporary.
Sorry for the rambling. I’ve been thinking a lot this week about bodies since I’ve been rough on mine lately.
Thanks for sharing this, loved what Demi had to say. I actually loved my pregnant body. I think it was the first time I really appreciated my body, this doesn’t mean I treated it well because I over indulged that’s for sure.
After Baby though, it has been hard. I really did a number on my body, and yes I say I because I should have taken better care of myself the first pregnancy. With my 2nd pregnancy I really listened to my body and didn’t see pregnancy as a chance to indulge, instead I fueled my body properly. It really was a completely different experience and thankfully this time that type of attitude has carried on to my post baby body.
I haven’t been pregnant yet (trying since August but nothing yet…*sigh*) but I’m really looking forward to it body-wise – seeing just how “functional” my body can be instead of focusing on how it looks.
Thanks for this article! Interesting.