Halsey is getting real about their postpartum body after their Saturday Night Live performances on October 9.
The artist took to Instagram on Monday, October 11, to get candid about the way they looked on stage versus reality. “The body behind all those compliments the other night was wearing a custom-tailored outfit and lighted perfectly after much testing, so I could feel good and do my job,” Halsey said in a lengthy Instagram post. “I do not want to feed the illusion that you’re meant to feel and look ‘great’ immediately postpartum. That is not my narrative currently.”
Just a few months after giving birth to baby Ender in July, Halsey was moved to share more photos of their postpartum body after being complimented on how “good” they looked on SNL. “I am posting this because no matter what I do people are going to talk about my body,” Halsey began. “It is [a] confusing symptom of being in the public eye so rather than complain I am going to give you something real to talk about!”
The singer said hearing and reading these compliments gave them a “weird” feeling. “My body has felt like a stranger’s for a long time. I uphold myself to honesty to the point of oversharing sometimes but this feels important,” Halsey wrote. “The first picture on this slide is days after my baby was already born. A lot of people don’t know that you still look pregnant for a while after. It is still changing and I am letting it.”
The star attributes their SNL performance aesthetic to tailoring and lighting, not a strict workout plan. “I have no interest in working out right now. I’m too tired and too busy playing with my darling son,” Halsey continued.
“If you’ve been following me because you’re also a parent and you dig what I’m doing, please know I’m in your corner,” Halsey urged. “I will never have my ‘pre-baby body back’ no matter how it changes physically because I have now had a baby! And that has altered me forever; emotionally, spiritually, and physically. That change is permanent. And I don’t want to go back! But In the spirit of honesty, I’m really tired and not a superhuman and this is really hard. Doing my best to serve my art and my family whilst keeping it all so very real. Love.”
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This story originally appeared in Glamour.
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