Learning to love your post-baby body can take a minute — just ask Chrissy Teigen.
“I think, in a way, we’ve forgotten what a regular body looks like,” the Cravings: Hungry for More cookbook author, 33, said in her February 2019 cover story for Good Housekeeping. “There are people out there who are struggling, and I’m struggling, and it’s OK to come to terms with realizing it’s going to be a bit of a journey. I’m not blind: I see my body, I see the difference in shape, I see that I gained weight. But I also see with those same eyes that I have a beautiful baby boy, and an amazing little girl, and I am very happy.”
Teigen and her husband, John Legend, are the parents of daughter Luna, 2, and son Miles, 7 months. Since becoming a mom of two, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model’s daily routine has been flipped upside down.
“This is a new thing that I can change within my mind, that I don’t have to be swimsuit model anymore,” she said. “I get to be a mommy, cook and meet incredible people, and I’m happy to be going through this transition.”
And that transition includes seeing herself through her kids’ eyes. “Luna’s bringing out so much of my personality that I was too anxious to share in the outside world before. Now, I get to be goofy and silly,” Teigen told the magazine.
“Luna has this crazy obsession with having me do her nails, so when you find things that they love, you turn that into entertainment, like ‘Oh my gosh, let’s have a tea party with lion and Big Bird. Pick a nail color and Mommy will do your nails,’” she continued. “She finds joy in these little things and they’re the kind of thing that she will talk about all week at school, and I have a feeling that it’ll be the kind of thing that she’s going to remember when she’s older.”
With Miles, on the other hand, the Lip Sync Battle color commentator admitted to having “anxiety issues.”
“Luna’s a busybody and I love to be a kid with her, but I also have this little tiny being [Miles] that needs quiet time and nurturing,” she explained. “Balancing these two things can be really tough, and I try to make sure I have separate time for both of them. I’m having to face my anxiety more by leaving the house to bring Luna to preschool. Every little bit is making me more comfortable.”
Through it all, Teigen, who married Legend in 2013, takes motherhood in stride. Earlier this month, she took to Twitter to show off her “thigh hives” and stretch marks, which she lovingly called “fun stretchies.”
