The real test for Rihanna will be her post-baby body

Honesty about the toll pregnancy takes on our bodies is great. But I’m ready for the next stage. I’m ready to celebrate my mom bod, the way people rhapsodize about dad bods. And I’m really hoping that Rihanna can show me how

Rihanna’s pregnancy style has been daring and bold (Getty Images)

These days, whenever a pregnant celebrity ventures outside, headlines accuse her of “flaunting” her bump. In reality, the women in question are not doing anything remotely attention-seeking beyond venturing out of the house — pregnancy bumps tend to flaunt themselves, especially in the third trimester.

Then along came Rihanna — who, since announcing her pregnancy in New York in January, has broken the mold when it comes to in-your-face pregnancy fashion. Following in the footsteps of Cardi B and Beyoncé, she’s ditched the traditional roomy tops and dresses and chosen to accentuate rather than minimize her new shape. Her outfits must have had editors up and down the land ruing the day when they wasted the word “flaunt” on a pregnant woman daring to wear a pair of leggings and a T-shirt.

For Rihanna, it seems that nothing is off the table: black sheer babydoll dresses, visible underwear, belly chains, leather. The star has laid down a fashion gauntlet and all we can do is watch in awe. There’s no doubt that she looks amazing, confident and every bit as sexy as she did in her pre-pregnancy days, sending a clear message that being pregnant has not diminished her strength, but made her all the more powerful.

I, for one, applaud her. Of all the feats that a human body is capable of, growing new life is surely the most amazing. Rihanna’s refusal to quietly cover up emphasizes the truth that pregnant bodies are beautiful.

But I’m watching with interest to see what Rihanna makes of the next part.

I’m not talking about how she copes with the pressure to snap back into style the minute she’s given birth. Or whether she’ll be candid about her postpartum belly (I’m pretty sure she’s not the shy, retiring type).

I want to know whether Rihanna will find a way to be sexy and beautiful in her mom bod, both in the weeks after pregnancy and beyond.

Until I gave birth for the first time in 2009, I hadn’t realized how long a bump actually takes to deflate. I’m not talking about weight gain and its distribution throughout the body, but the fact the actual bump hangs around post-baby. It just wasn’t something people talked about. Kate Middleton publicly broke ground in 2013 when she appeared on the steps of St Mary’s Hospital in London after giving birth to George, still sporting a maternity dress.

Nowadays women in the public eye are even more candid and less likely to buy into the idea that women can simply reclaim their former bodies post-pregnancy. Celebrities like Halsey and Ashley Graham took to Instagram in 2021 to bare all about post-partum tummies and stretch marks. We know that there’s no such thing as simply “snapping” back into shape.

Honesty about the toll pregnancy takes on our bodies is great. But I’m ready for the next stage. I’m ready to celebrate my mom bod, the way people rhapsodize about dad bods. And I’m really hoping that Rihanna can show me how.

Because even when the bump is no more, most moms find their stomachs never fully recover from the experience. Weight can be lost, but stretch marks and sagging skin are more stubborn after-effects.

It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with my post-pregnancy body. To accept that, whatever I do, I’ll never be the same shape I was before I grew my children. I’m lucky enough to have escaped stretch marks, but still have a “ghost bump” — a deflated pouch where my children once grew.

Over the years, I’ve learned to accept my stomach. But I definitely don’t feel proud of it, and I opt to cover it up rather than let it all hang out. I hope that Rihanna, whose confident and proud persona has served her well so far, doesn’t feel similarly cowed by her new shape after giving birth. I hope that she doesn’t feel pressure to dress a certain way, and doesn’t let stretch marks or loose skin dictate her outfit choices.

I hope that she doesn’t feel the need to “confess” that she’s changed, or reveal her scars as if they’re a guilty secret. Instead, I hope that she is able to show me and other moms ways in which we can love our bodies and be proud in a post-partum world.

Now that would truly be ground-breaking.