Halsey opened up on Zane Lowe about the criticisms and hurdles they faced while pregnant.
The 26-year-old performer has had a busy summer, to say at the least. Not only did Halsey welcome their first child into the world, Ender Ridley Adyin, in July, but she also released their fourth studio album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, at the end of August. Still, despite having a lot to celebrate, Halsey admits that it has been difficult to feel completely comfortable with it all, since others felt like they needed to make them feel like they are doing the whole parenting thing wrong, no matter which avenue they take.
“I’m 26, and I tried very hard for this pregnancy and it was like, I’m financially independent, I’m pretty far along in my career, it feels like the right time for me to do it. And I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times,” they explained on the Apple show. “It triggered all of these feelings of shame from when I was younger. It triggered a lot of old feelings of shame in me where I was like, how can you have an opinion, that kind of opinion on me making this decision?”
On top of that, Halsey feels like if they continue to work that they will catch flack for doing so, especially since she has experienced pregnancy loss in the past.
“I knew the whole time I made this album and made the film that people were going to be like, ‘For someone like Halsey, who’s had miscarriages and whatever, she shouldn’t have been working so hard. Would it have killed her to stay home and relax for the baby?’ I knew there was going to be that immediately,” they explained.
Of course, if Halsey did decide to stay home with Ender, that could be criticized, too. “But then, there’s also, ‘She worked too hard, she never had a family. She’s going to die alone. She was too obsessed with work, she never found someone. It’s a shame she’s not going to have any kids. Her career’s not going to hold her at night,'” they continued.
No matter what you do as a working mom, it can be seen as “wrong” by the public.
Deep sigh. We feel you, Halsey. Either you’re working too hard or not getting back to work quickly enough. Halsey ultimately made the decision to take a break from social media with Ender’s mental health in mind. “The consequences were too high. The consequences of letting social media stress me out or cause me grief. It’s no longer just me being affected by it. There’s a whole other person whose nervous system is being affected by the status of mine. So I had to kind of make that choice,” they explained.
How about this – we all let new moms like Halsey decide what is best for them and their baby, whether it be a decision about work, breastfeeding, or any other child-rearing choice, as long as both momma and baby are happy, healthy, and safe. Deal?
