Being pregnant is not just about the glow and preparing for the arrival of a new baby. There is a lot going on in a woman's body, both physically and mentally, which can make being pregnant a challenging experience. Sometimes fairly common symptoms such as morning sickness or swelling can be exacerbated by more serious conditions. Complicated pregnancies can happen, and celebrities are no exception.
Click through the following gallery and find out what these famous moms had to go through during their pregnancies.
Expecting her first child with musician RAC hasn't been an easy journey. She opened up about the toll it has taken on her mental and physical health in a lengthy Instagram post. "I underestimated just how hard pregnancy would be on my mind and my body," she wrote. "Being someone who deals with extreme health anxiety on a daily basis, pregnancy turned things into high gear. I've struggled to adapt to these changes. Bodily sensations. Pains and aches. Organs going to s***t randomly." She continued, "I feel like my brain and thoughts are going to war every single day. Mental warfare."
Jessica Simpson gave birth to her third child, Birdie Mae Johnson, in 2019, but the trauma of that pregnancy is still fresh. In a 2022 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Simpson recalled being hospitalized with bronchitis while heavily pregnant. "Her oxygen levels were dropping. I couldn't breathe," Simpson explained. "I was 260 pounds. She was a very big baby. We were like, 'Just take her out.'" She also described her experience in her 2020 memoir 'Open Book.' "This was kind of the pregnancy from hell," she wrote. "When I wasn't being hospitalized for bronchitis...I was breaking a toilet seat leaning back." Thankfully, Birdie was born via c-section a while later and both mother and daughter are doing just fine.
Kim Kardahsian suffers from a condition called placenta accreta, which happens when the placenta grows too deeply into the uterine wall.
"There were a couple of little operations to fix all that, so that created a little hole in my uterus, which I think made it really tough to get pregnant again," she said about her second pregnancy. Kardashian used a surrogate for her third and fourth child.
Kate Middleton suffered from a type of morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum.
Kate even had to be hospitalized when she was pregnant with Prince George, due to nausea and vomiting.
The comedian also suffered from the same condition during pregnancy, and had to cancel tour dates as a result.
"It's been pretty tough. I didn't know that pregnancies could be such a bummer, I threw up a bunch of times on my way here," she told Seth Meyers during an interview.
Not only did Cardi B struggle with a difficult emotional time during her pregnancy, it probably didn't help that she recorded an album at the same time. "I [spent] 24 hours for months sleeping on a couch with my pregnant depressed a** in a studio," she said.
The anxiety was real: "Throwing up, drowsy, terrible colds, and in a rush to finish it so I [could] start doing music videos before I started showing," the rapper confessed.
"When they say every pregnancy is different, it really is. Just different symptoms. I feel like this one is just a little harder on my body for some reason," said Underwood.
Queen Bey also went through a tough time when she was pregnant with her twins. Beyoncé had toxemia, a condition that elevates blood pressure, protein in urine, and causes swelling.
"I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir. I was swollen from toxemia and had been on bed rest for over a month. My health and my babies' health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section [...] I was in survival mode and did not grasp it all until months later," she said.
The actress developed gestational diabetes, a high blood sugar condition that can occur during pregnancy.
"I didn't know whether I was feeling bad because I was pregnant or whether something was seriously wrong. I was nauseated for nine months, which can be one of the symptoms," said Hayek.
Like Hayek, the singer also developed gestational diabetes. But she also had preeclampsia, which causes high blood pressure and can damage several organs. As a result of the complication, Carey needed an emergency C-section.
"I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to walk properly again. It was a huge strain. I would sit and then someone would need to help me up. I couldn't go even to the [bathroom] by myself," confessed Carey.
The tennis star had a medical history with blood clots, so her pregnancy was at risk.
As a result, Williams had to inject herself with anticoagulants on a daily basis.
The 'Beverly Hills, 90210' actress had placenta previa when she was pregnant with her fourth child. The condition can cause internal bleeding, and put the mother and baby at risk.
The actress had a complicated second pregnancy. Hudson suffered from hair loss and acne.
"With my second child, I got acne, all my hair fell out after he was born, and I definitely had to work out to drop the weight. No pregnancy is easy to bounce back from," said Hudson.
Teigen took to Twitter and opened up about how difficult her second pregnancy was. "This baby is sucking the life from me," said Teigen.
"Drinking my water, making me dry. Eating my food, making me hungry. Taking my health, making me sick," she added.
The actress had a rough time during the first few months of her second pregnancy.
"First trimester [this time], just terrible! Just tired and nauseous and all of it," said Kemper.
Clarkson described her pregnancies as "the worst moments of my life."
"Nothing is beautiful, nothing is magical. Whatever, you're that person that gets that pregnancy, good for you. But I will remind my children every day of their lives what I [went through]," she added.
Sources: (Insider)
See also: How to prepare your body for pregnancy
Celebs who struggled with complicated pregnancies
Find out what these famous moms had to go through during their pregnancies
CELEBRITY Famous moms
Being pregnant is not just about the glow and preparing for the arrival of a new baby. There is a lot going on in a woman's body, both physically and mentally, which can make being pregnant a challenging experience. Sometimes fairly common symptoms such as morning sickness or swelling can be exacerbated by more serious conditions. Complicated pregnancies can happen, and celebrities are no exception.
Click through the following gallery and find out what these famous moms had to go through during their pregnancies.