While most celebrity mums launch themselves into a weight-loss plan not long after giving birth, Drew Barrymore isn’t one of them.
The 37-year-old first-time mum has vowed that she won’t succumb to the Hollywood pressure placed on new mothers to bounce back after having a baby.
Drew, who welcomed daughter Olive with husband Will Kopelman on September 26, told Good Housekeeping that she has never had a bikini body, so is in no hurry to lose her baby weight.
“I’m still working on it, but I’m not worrying about it,” she told the magazine.
“We live in a society where everyone’s like, ‘Look how amazing she looks two week out [from giving birth].’ I don’t want to be on that hamster wheel; that’s hell.
“I’m never going to have the kind of body that makes me excited about bikini season. I’ve never had a ‘beach body’. But I want to feel like I’m showing up and doing my best. My goal is to be nice to myself, gentle toward myself, during this process. It’s such a sacred time.”
While she is happy in her own skin, Drew says she still feels guilty when someone with a perfect figure brags about how easy it is for them.
“I think that being happy makes the biggest impact on your physical appearance,” she said.
“Of course I want to look good in clothes. And it never makes me feel good when somebody who has an insane figure tells me, ‘I eat whatever I want.’ I’m like, ‘Thank you so much for making me feel like crap’.”
Drew says that she doesn’t believe in being perfect and does what is right for her.
“I know if I eat whatever I want, I will not look amazing. So it’s all about balance for me. But I don’t want perfection; I don’t actually believe in it. What I’ve learned along the way is, work with what you have; embrace what you’ve been given. Don’t fight against it,” she said.