When Carrie Bickmore posted a hilarious photo of herself and daughter Adelaide sleeping on a couch back in February, she didn’t anticipate a viral sensation.
The photograph was also accompanied by another pic of Carrie sleeping in a glamorous pose, pointing out a clear “Instagram vs Reality” dichotomy.
At the time, the post was flooded with likes (90k!) and comments, praising The Project host for keeping it real:
“I love that you are so raw and real! Sincerely a first time mum who is definitely the picture on the right,” comments one fan.
“You are a total legend for posting both xxx real life [sic],” another wrote.
“We can definitely relate, finally someone shows what it really looks like!”
READ NEXT: EXCLUSIVE: Why Carrie Bickmore’s brutal honesty about motherhood is a gift to other women
Instagram vs reality.
(Image: Instagram @bickmorecarrie)Appearing on Charlie Pickering’s The Weekly on Wednesday night, the mum-of-three revealed the real reason she chose to share the photographs.
“When Chris, my partner, took the original photo I was asleep,” Carrie said.
“When I woke up … he said to me, ‘I took the most beautiful photo of you and Addie just then’.
“I had in my head how it was going to look and then when he showed it to me I was like, ‘Oh my god, is that what I look like?’ I was mortified. I was pale, I was drained, I was exhausted. I had a four-week-old baby, that’s what I should have looked like.”
Unhappy with the photo, she asked Chris to take another.
“But then when I looked at it I realised there was not a single bit of the emotion of the original moment, and I think I felt disappointed in myself that I hadn’t liked the first moment because that was me and my newborn baby girl in a moment together,” she revealed.
“That’s my world most of the time.” Aww.
WATCH NEXT: Carrie Bickmore’s touching speech at the Logie Awards. Post continues after video…
Simply honest and always relatable, Carrie also opened up about motherhood in an exclusive interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly, admitting it has been difficult adding another baby to their brood.
“I think, arrogantly, I was like, ‘I’ve had two, it can’t be that hard to have another one,'” Carrie chuckled.
“By then there’s already chaos, there’s already mess, so what’s adding another one? But it was pretty full on. And it certainly challenged me in ways I didn’t know were possible.”
Addie couldn’t settle while feeding, was projectile vomiting and wasn’t sleeping and it all left Carrie questioning if she was suffering from postnatal depression.
“I literally couldn’t put her down without her being uncomfortable. So I held her pretty much for six weeks straight, which meant I didn’t sleep,” she said.
“I think, arrogantly, I was like, ‘I’ve had two, it can’t be that hard to have another one.'”
(Image: Instagram @walkschris21)Carrie’s openness about her struggles on social media – she shared all the lows as well as the highs with her 626,000 Instagram followers – has endeared her even more to the Australian public, particularly women.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of women who have said it’s meant a lot to them,” says her co-host on The Project, Peter Helliar.
“Mums with new babies who are up in the middle of the night, to read that Carrie is going through the same thing, it does actually mean something. She’s very good at reaching out, and also at not hiding it if she’s struggling.”
Carrie is the proud mum of Ollie, 11, Evie, four and Addie, six months.
