Halsey Felt 'Feelings Of Shame' While Being Pregnant In The Spotlight: 'I Got Treated Like A Teen Mom'
Halsey is opening up about what it was like being pregnant in the spotlight, admitting it was hard overlapping their career with parenthood.
The songstress — who prefers to go by "she/they" pronouns— welcomed their first child, baby Ender Ridley Aydin, with boyfriend Alev Aydin in July. OK! reported Halsey saw their pregnancy "as a miracle" after their struggles with endometriosis and history of miscarriages.
While talking to Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 ahead of their If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power album drop on Friday, August 27, Halsey got candid about getting pregnant.
"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," the mother-of-one explained.
Regardless of their pregnancy being planned, Halsey said others seemed to doubt their decision because they are young with a flourishing career. "I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times, you know what I mean? Where people were like, 'Oh my God, you're so young, and you have so much to do in your career, and you're not married and you're this,'" they told Lowe of other people's skepticism.
Critics' vocal opinions about their choice to start a family triggered "feelings of shame," the "Without Me" singer confessed.
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However, Halsey refused to allow themself to be defeated by haters' remarks, noting there will always be someone criticizing their decisions no matter their age or stage in their career. "So **k 'em," they declared of the trolls. "I'm going to do what I want to do… this is important to me."
The "Closer" songstress also pointed out that there's a constant "weight" placed on female artists, with women being taught that time is the "enemy." Halsey explained they missed out on several opportunities to promote their upcoming album because they were pregnant.
They said their team tried to "set up magazine covers based around the album release," but all the magazines said: "we don't want to do a maternity cover." The artist tried explaining that it's not a maternity cover, noting they will just be pregnant in the pictures promoting the album — but the magazines wouldn't budge, they claimed.
"They're like, 'No, it's a pregnant cover.' And I was like, so I can't go talk about my album?" Halsey — who just announced the launch of their limited-run "Halsey Radio" channel on SiriusXM — said of their interactions with the outlets.
Days before welcoming their bundle of joy, the "Be Kind" artist shared the cover art to their album and theatrical film If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power. Alongside the photo of Halsey seated on a golden throne with a crown on their head, baby in their arm and breast placed outside their gown, they wrote: "This album is a concept album about the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth."
Through the album design, the brunette beauty shared their hope to de-stigmatize the female body and breastfeeding. "This cover image celebrates pregnant and postpartum bodies as something beautiful, to be admired," they wrote. "We have a long way to go with eradicating the social stigma around bodies & breastfeeding. I hope this can be a step in the right direction!"
