Drew Barrymore gets real about her post-baby body, & we love it

by

Carolyn Robertson

posted in Celebrities

Like many new moms, actress Drew Barrymore was on cloud nine after the birth of her first baby, Olive, in 2012.

“There’s nothing greater in the world," she gushed when Olive was just 2 months old. "I live every second of every day to make her laugh and smile."

So she was understandably shocked when she didn't feel the same way when her second daughter Frankie's arrived two years later.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the always honest mom reveals that she suffered from postpartum depression after baby #2, saying, 'I didn’t have postpartum the first time so I didn’t understand it because I was like, 'I feel great!' The second time, I was like, 'Oh, whoa, I see what people talk about now. I understand.'"

"It’s a different type of overwhelming with the second," Drew, 40, adds. "I really got under the cloud."

She says it wasn't until Frankie was around 6 months old that she felt like herself again, but she's grateful for the experience because it helped her to live in the moment and focus on what really matters.

What doesn't matter, she's come to realize, is looking hot in a swimsuit.

"I never looked good in a bathing suit, so now I look worse in a bathing suit," she shrugs. "I have cellulite. But I would much rather have my kids and look a little worse in a bathing suit!"

While she does make time for exercise a few times a week, Drew says it's for her mental health, not for washboard abs.

"Having a hot body is just not my thing," the actress and author admits "I care a little, I don’t care a lot."

Drew credits her positive perspective on body image in part to her husband of 4 years, Will Kopelman, saying, "I think that’s really important for women to have someone who really makes you feel good about yourself because that would be a giant disadvantage to your process of making babies or just being a woman in general to have someone make you feel like you had to be a certain way to turn them on or to be beautiful in their eyes."

So well said! I almost always love what Drew has to say about being a mother and a woman, and this interview is no exception.

There is a lot of pressure put on women - from society, the media, our partners, ourselves - to live up to a pretty specific standard of beauty, one that steadfastly refuses to make room for things like cellulite, stretch marks, c-section scars, post-baby "pooches" or breasts that don't stand at attention. I think it takes a lot of self-confidence and a fair bit of courage to shake off those expectations, and even more to publicly admit our so-called imperfections and accept them.

What do you think of Drew's interview?

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