When it comes to parenting, there’s no celebrity quite as honest, hilarious, candid and cool as Pink (born Alecia Moore).
Raising daughter Willow Sage, six, and baby Jameson Moon, hasn’t come without its challenges, but what we love most about the So What singer, is her transparent approach to motherhood, and the beauty and chaos that comes with it.
From body image to taking breaks from dad Carey Hart, we’ve rounded up some of Pink’s most inspirational mum moments.
1. On rewarding yourself
Nearly all mums will be able to relate to Pink’s latest Instagram post. The singer, who has never been shy when it comes to documenting her breastfeeding experience, posted a candid selfie mid-way through expressing milk while waving a well-deserved bottle of wine in the air.
The star, with a sense of humour as big and bold as her voice, cheekily captioned the shot: “When you’re almost done pumping and you know what’s next.”
The 38-year-old received plenty of props from her followers who were pleased to see the superstar, once again, normalising breastfeeding.
Cheers to that!
2. On empowering her daughter
When Pink received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at Sunday’s MTV VMAs, she used her stage-time to talk about self-acceptance, sharing a heartwarming story about her daughter Willow.
“[Willow] said to me out of the blue, ‘Mama, I’m the ugliest girl I know,’ ” Pink said. “And I said, ‘Huh?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I look like a boy with long hair’.”
Upset by little Willow’s comments, the singer-songwriter created an inspiring PowerPoint presentation featuring androgynous rock stars like David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and Prince who “live their truth, are probably made fun of every day of their life, and carry on and wave their flag.”
“I said, ‘When people make fun of me, that’s what they use: They say I look like a boy or I’m too masculine or I have too many opinions or that my body is too strong,” Pink said.
“And I said, ‘Do you see me growing my hair?’ And she said, ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing my body?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing the way I present myself to the world?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me selling out arenas all over the world?’ ‘Yes, mama.’
“So, baby girl, we don’t change,” she continued. “We take the gravel in the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so that they can see more kinds of beauty.”
She added: “And you, my darling girl, are beautiful. I love you.”
3. On multitasking
Pink took patting her head and running her tummy to a whole new level in her latest Instagram snap which shows little Jameson breastfeeding while she sits for her hair and makeup.
“Jameson can multitask too #workflow,” the 37-year-old wrote beside the adorable snap, in which the tiny tot can be seen brushing makeup onto his mum’s décolletage.
Other memories posted to her account show the tot breastfeeding during a hike, and hanging out in a chest carrier during a dance rehearsal.
4. On the importance of giving back
Pink, a UNICEF ambassador, is already instilling upon her two kids the importance of giving to those less fortunate.
Speaking to People of her hopes and dreams for daughter Willow Sage, Pink said: “I want her to be a global citizen. She’s very aware of the fact that not everybody has a bed to sleep in at night and food on their table and coats on their back. It’s hard for her to understand.”
But the six-year-old already has a procedure in place when it comes to passing on her possesions. “We donate. When one new toy comes in, eight go out. And she loves being in charge of that. She loves looking around and going, ‘Okay, I’m ready to give this one up, Mama.’”
Pink pictured with daughter Willow.
5. On giving ‘bouncing back’ the flick
Three months after the birth of son Jameson Moon, Pink took to Instagram with a message for new mums alike with a brutally honest admission about the post-baby body.
Levelling with all the mummys out there on a mission to reach their goal weights, she wrote: “Would you believe I’m 160 pounds [72.5kg] and 5’3 [160cm]? By ‘regular standards’ that makes me obese.”
Beside a snap of her working out and looking stronger than ever in the gym, she continues: “I know I’m not at my goal or anywhere near it after Baby 2 but dammit I don’t feel obese.
“The only thing I’m feeling is myself. Stay off that scale ladies! #feelingmyself #strongismygoal #bodygoals”
6. On fearing for her daughter
In a 2015 interview with E! News, the Stupid Girls singer got candid about her fears in raising her daughter Willow.
“What scares me more is having a breakable child,” she said. “She needs to be out in the world and be able to do things for herself.”
“She’s very capable, she’s very physical. I started out with her where I was gonna get her a bubble and never let her out of it but I, you know, she’s, she’s good,” she adds.
7. On being a “breastfeeding militant”
We can’t thank Pink enough for her honesty and #NoFilter attitude to the beauty and normality that is breastfeeding.
In a 2012 interview with Alan Carr, the Just Like Fire songstress revealed she would hapilly “start fights in restaurants” should someone have a problem with her feeding her baby.
“I will fight. Hold my baby,” she said, laughing. When Carr asked if she considered herself “one of those militant breastfeeder women” the star replied “You bet!” adding that she sometimes goes out of her way to try to provoke a reaction from passers-by.
“I do. I do on purpose,” she said. “I think breastfeeding is healthy and natural and it’s a comfort to my baby.”
8. On partying as a mum
So what, she’s still a rock star, but Pink has certainly had to change her partying habits since welcoming two kids.
That’s right. Gone are the days of tequila shots until morning and choosing to put sleep on the backburner.
“Babies don’t respect hangovers,” she says. “No matter what time we go to bed, she wakes up at 5am. So I party from maybe like 9pm to 10pm. And I party hard for that one hour. I get it all in.”
9. On taking breaks from her marriage
Pink believes that taking time apart from husband and doting dad Carey Hart to be a method of prolonging their marriage. The couple, who’ve been together for 16 years, have endured two breaks since getting together.
Though she says “the first one was about a year, and the second one was 11 months,” the mum-of-two confessed on The Ellen Show last year that she and her hubby were “due” for another.
Why? Over Willow’s sleeping patterns, apparently.
“He always falls to sleep putting Willow to bed,” Pink explained. “The other night I said, ‘Are you going to stay up tonight?’ And he said, ‘I would like to.’ I said, ‘I don’t really know what that means. Should I light candles and open wine and put on a show? Like, are we going big here? Or are you going to fall asleep again?’”
Spoiler: he fell asleep again.
For more about the ins and outs of motherhood, LISTEN as host Claire Isaac quizzes Rhian Allen, the Founder and CEO of The Healthy Mummy, on ‘How To Be a Mumpreneur’ in the first episode of our ‘How To Be…’ podcast.
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