Six days after giving birth to her son, Alex Light went to a routine postnatal check-up. Instead of asking how she was coping, the midwife immediately commented on her body.
Privately struggling with debilitating postpartum anxiety, the moment crystallised for Light just how intensely — and immediately — the pressure to “bounce back” begins. Here, as part of Marie Claire UK’s new What It Feels Like series, the activist and author of The Price of Pretty, talks about postnatal pressure, shame, the silence around gaining weight after pregnancy, and why she no longer wants to “erase” what her body has been through.
