Celebrities Who Got Shamed For Working Out While Pregnant

One would assume that in this day and age having a solid workout routine and a positive, consistent approach to physical health would be applauded. However, as many pregnant women have found, adopting the same attitude while "mit baby" is often met with scorn. Scorn that even celebrities are not immune to.

Despite countless health professionals — doctors and midwives — stating that there is "nothing wrong" with exercising while pregnant, and some claiming that it actually "improves heart health, reduces urinary incontinence, back pain, weight gain and diabetes," it hasn't stopped those who feel they know better from vocalizing their criticisms on social media — particularly toward pregnant celebrities.

From statements shaming ladies for their choice of exercise to their workout clothing and their vanity, I'm sorry to say that it's likely this article will have you shouting "WHAT YEAR IS IT" at the screen.

Oh, what we would give to look like Sarah Stage, the American fitness model who cultured a 2+ million Instagram following thanks to her workout tips and all-round stunning lifestyle. However, on sharing a video of herself busting her butt during a fitness regime while six months pregnant, Stage found herself the center of viral attention — but not for the reasons she would've liked.

Although the comments on the aforementioned post have now been deactivated, Refinery29 reported in 2017 that Stage received rather brutal messages from "Insta-doctors" reprimanding the model for not thinking about her "unborn child." One commenter apparently wrote:

"This is horrible what you are doing!! I think its ok to make exercises but not for your belly!!! I hope everything is gonna be ok with your 2. little one, think about your unborn child and not what your body should look like or becoming more 'famous' for doing this sh*t"

Stage, who has now added a Pregnancy Fitness Guide to her eBook, eventually responded to the remarks in a follow-up Instagram post, dated August 2017, which politely reminds followers that they should "do their research" before "judging others." She adds that, while it's important to seek medical advice from a doctor first, exercise "has many benefits for mom and baby," and that we should be "supporting each other," rather than making such remarks. She rounds it out with a poignant hashtag: #stopmomshaming. 

Hear, hear!

She's strong, fit, and motivated as hell. But as Australian fitness guru Chontel Duncan knows well, as soon as you post videos of yourself trying to maintain those positive attributes while pregnant, public reception isn't so sweet.

In the Jan/Feb 2017 edition of Oxygen magazine, Duncan divulged that during her pregnancy, trolls emerged from shallow corners of the web to throw shade in her direction. "I was called anorexic, selfish, an idiot, they wished my baby to be stillborn, that I didn't deserve to be a mother, that my child would be born disabled — the insults just kept coming." Ouch.

She continued to say that negative comments from strangers arrived throughout her entire pregnancy. At first people commented on the way she "was carrying," as her bump was quite small. "However, the focus soon turned to my behavior due to the fact that I continued to train." Adding that the main thing that got her through the training, alongside professional medical advice, was that she was "extremely confident" in her abilities.

Duncan gave birth to her son, Jeremiah in March 2016 — and later had a second son in September 2017 — yet the birth of her first wasn't so simple. After 30 hours in labour, she was rushed for an emergency caesarean. In the aforementioned interview, she told Oxygen that she remembers thinking "Great, just one more thing for the public to rip on me about" — such a sad example of the mental effect internet bullying can have on a person.

When Kelly Rowland announced her pregnancy with her manager husband Tim Weatherspoon back in 2014, it soon became clear that she wasn't going to let her fitness routine fall by the wayside. After posting an Instagram picture of her working out in the gym with her baby bump on display, Rowland found out the hard way that even a Destiny's Child survivor isn't immune from patronizing commenters.

The snap in question simply showed Rowland mid-lunge, captioned with the hashtag #SWEAT — yet even such a modest illustration of how she's taking care of her pregnancy body was met with condescending remarks. "Y u working out wen u pregnant..ur too serious bout ur body," read one helpful comment, while another offered a patronizing "aww...boo...can you still handle that?? You need to relax love."

Rowland's trainer, Jeanette Jenkins, shared the same picture over on her Instagram profile, complete with a breakdown of the full workout, and that too was met with comments, such as telling this fitness professional "not over do it now!"

You'd think we'd have reached a point in our evolution where it's common sense to allow a woman to have a little agency over her own body — but apparently some folks just aren't ready for her jelly.

It only takes one scroll through the self-proclaimed Jesus lover, wife and mom's Instagram feed to gather that Heidi Pratt (nee Montag) has left her scandalous days behind her — she is pretty much as wholesome as wholesome gets. However, even being a peachy keen jelly bean doesn't shield you from the Internet's word-whip.

While making a name for herself on MTV's reality TV show, The Hills, Pratt started dating her co-starSpencer. The two later married in 2009 (or 2008 if you count their elopement in Mexico), and they had their first child in late 2017. During her attempts to stay healthy during her pregnancy, she received backlash from those perceiving her to be self-centered.

According to a Daily Mail article dated August 2017, Pratt had shared a series of Instagram stories documenting her "savage" pregnancy workout, which consisted of resistance rope training, leg lifts and stretching. A comment on the article reads: "why risk the chance of your unborn baby because of vanity." 

Furthermore, and increasingly depressing, another commenter felt the need to shame her choice of workout clothing, namely that it displayed her bump. "What is with the pants pulled down in front with the belly hanging out? That looks stooopid. Pull up the pants or buy some that have a decent fit, and wear a large typed of tee shirt."

These comments speak for themselves.