Rapper Cardi B has opened up about her experiences of suffering from post-partum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kulture Kiari.
The I Like It singer revealed her emotional rollercoaster following childbirth, explaining how she assumed she'd "avoid" developing the common condition.
The 26-year-old spoke to Harper Bazaar for the March cover issue, and elaborated on the difficulties of facing life with the feeling of heaviness.
Cardi explained that she felt fine six months ago, when Kulture was first born, until post-partum depression hit her unexpectedly;
“I thought I was going to avoid it,” she revealed to the magazine. “When I gave birth, the doctor told me about postpartum, and I was like: ‘Well, I’m doing good right now, I don’t think that’s going to happen."
She continued; “But out of nowhere, the world was heavy on my shoulders.”
She also got candid about the feeling of losing control over your body following pregnancy, admitting that her body "doesn't feel the same".
She said: “For some reason, I still don’t feel like my body’s the same. I feel like I don’t have my balance right yet. When it comes to heels, I’m not as good at walking anymore."
“I feel like I’m holding a weight on me. I don’t know why because I’m skinnier than I’ve ever been. But there’s an energy I haven’t gotten back yet that I had before I was pregnant. It’s just the weirdest thing.”
Cardi B welcomed Kulture in July with her rapper husband Offset, but the pair announced their divorce shortly afterwards.
The couple secretly wed in September 2017, insisted that the split was good for both of them, and that they simply "fell out of love".
Taking to Instagram, the Grammy-nominated artist said:
“We’re really good friends and you know we’re really good business partners and you know, he’s always somebody that I run to, to talk to and we got a lot of love for each other, but things just haven’t been working out between us for a long time.
A 'Rats Out of the HSE' protest took place today outside the Department of Health's office in Dublin, following a leak of patient information.
The woman had legally obtained an abortion, but was then phoned and harassed by anti-abortion groups, according to TheJournal.ie
The protesters were calling for better protection of confidential patient information and for an external investigation to be launched after last week's data breaches.
Roughly 12 people took part in the protest at lunchtime, carrying placards and holding cut-out rat masks at Miesian Plaza.
A 'rats out of the HSE' protest is taking place outside the Dept Heath's offices on Baggot St. It's in the wake of claims a woman was phoned & harrasssed after obtaining a legal abortion at a Dublin hospital. pic.twitter.com/00szeucU0j
A number of investigations were launched last week into the shocking claims.
A woman had an abortion at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, otherwise known as Holles Street, and was later verbally abused over the phone by a man who had somehow obtained her personal information.
On Friday, anti-abortion protesters stated that they were given information on when abortions were scheduled to occur at Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Councillor Éilis Ryan of The Workers’ Party has said the HSE needed to clearly explain the steps it had taken to ensure that staff were providing abortion services in a trustworthy, fair and transparent manner.
We advise anyone looking for accurate information regarding unplanned pregnancy support to contact HSE sources.
"It doesn’t seem that any thought was put into how to change the culture of our hospitals to ensure people who might have anti-choice feelings themselves are not biased in how they carry out their healthcare provision”.
Her worry regarding the ability of our healthcare services to adapt without bias is felt by many.
Health Minister Simon Harris has admitted that an internal probe will take place, but “given the scale of scandals linking to the HSE in recent years we don’t feel that an internal investigation can be trusted or is sufficient”, according to Ryan.
She feels that Gabriel Scally is trustworthy, after he carried out the Cervical Check screening programme review.
Simon Harris said on Friday that it was “extraordinarily concerning and disturbing” that a patient’s details of her own abortion could possibly become public.
"The idea that anybody might leak a woman’s confidential information is reprehensible, it is grotesque, it’s disgusting and that is why I asked the HSE yesterday to investigate the matter and report back."
The HSE, the Dublin Well Woman Clinic, the National Maternity Hospital and the Data Protection Commissioner are apparently making inquiries regarding the apparent incident.
Nowadays, when some of us need career and lifestyle guidance, Instagram has taken over as one of the leading platforms to imitate those whose lives we'd love to lead.
However, when it comes to so many of the primary influencers, the image looks pretty far from reality, not to mention relatability.
Luckily for us, BBC broadcaster, style guru and journalist Angela Scanlon is renowned for her Irish charm, her gorgeous style and her affiliation with Irish brands.
From studying business in college to making the big move across the pond and making it as a stylist and broadcaster, we could DEFINITELY use some of her advice.
We stopped by the launch of Aer Lingus and Bank of Ireland's collaborative project; the new Aer Credit Card, to chat with Angela.
Acting as their new brand ambassador, she gives us some travel tips, career path wisdom and self-care supplements. The card itself sounds like an unreal choice; with two free lounge passes, two priority boarding passes and two return flights to Europe once you hit the 5000 euro spending amount as well as travel insurance on offer. The gal chooses her partners wisely, that's for sure.
As well as boosting Irish companies, she splits her time between London and Dublin while taking care of her daughter Ruby Ellen, who turns one this February.
Since her time at Xpose and Off The Rails back in 2008, Angela has gone from strength to strength on her career path. She now works as a BBC presenter for The One Show, Robot Wars and acts as a panellist for big UK names.
How did she go from studying business to practising fashion guru? Picking out stunner styles is a lot harder than it looks, we suspect…
"In a nutshell, I studied business, I then set up a stall in the loft, I started personal shopping in Dundrum and from there I went into TV as a pundit doing fashion news and trends. From there I knew I really liked TV, and I started pitching fashion programme ideas at the time and then Oi, Ginger, which was the first documentary I did. It all kicked off from there," she says.
We're taking notes in our pristine fashion bible for future reference, and are working up the courage to enquire about her haircare routine. (Those auburn locks are just mesmerising)
"It was a slightly zig-zaggy way of doing things, but I think that was an absolute blessing. At the time I thought ‘Oh God, it’s taking me ten years to figure all of this out’, but actually having had that path often gives me a different perspective and different approach, which I think is a good thing.”
‘I always say to people who think they’ve done the wrong thing, having studied the thing that they want to do ultimately, that actually there are ways of turning that into an advantage. It’s never too late," she continues.
" thought, when I got to London that I was too old to get a break there. You had to be 22 and kind of fresh, whereas I was almost 30 at that stage when I went there. It’s never too late to do what you want to do, but start somewhere.”
The presenter has been open towards her social media followers in the past when it comes to feeling burnt out, trying to make it in an alien city.
One Instagram post in particular saw Angela open up about life as an Irish gal abroad, looking to make a name for herself;
"London was so SO alien to me at that point , I was coming over here with a smile on my face knocking on doors and showing up every single day. Meanwhile I was working for myself in Ireland, trying to build a career in both countries and not really believing I deserved one in either. I was so hideously lonely, I couldn’t find my way around the Tube, I felt constantly out of my depth & I was riddled with self-doubt. I was blindly focused and so terrified I would fail that I didn’t have time to do anything on a personal level… my relationship was under strain, my friends had lost me and my family, although supportive, did wonder what the hell I was doing it for," she wrote.
"I was not even 30 and was close to being burnt the f*ck out! I felt like it was too late to build something, too late to “get a break”, too late to make a go of things & I spent a lot of time deeply regretting the lack of focus I had in my twenties. Really it was a lack of confidence, a lack of belief in my own ability."
It's this kind of honesty that draws her followers to look up to her as a type of down-to-earth mentor. She describes her life in London fondly, but stays true to her Irish roots.
"I do a lot of work with the London Irish Centre, which has Kerrygold and Tayto Irish crisps and McCambridge bread and Cadbury’s chocolate which is better here. Most things you can get online, but it’s more the familiarity, the feeling of always bumping into someone you know in Dublin. That small-town-feel that Dublin has is really quite unique. Not just if you’re Irish, that’s how it feels if you come here. One of my girlfriends came over to Dublin for a five-day break and spent the last three days looking for a job here so she could stay.”
Join us to celebrate powerful Irish women for St Brigid's Day this Feb 2nd – hosted by the incredible @angelascanlon
The woman is loyal to the Emerald Isle by the sounds of things. What drove Angela to make the big move?
“There’s loads of work here (in Dublin) but it’s individual to everybody. I chose to move abroad because I was kind of doing Ireland and the UK at the same time, it was never a deliberate move. Different people move for different reasons. I certainly think the pace is very different, but I do miss the familiarity of having your mum or dad up the road. You take for granted that we’re a new generation who have moved to England who have a lot more opportunities than our parents would have had. You kind of forget that there is a massive amount of vulnerability over there. There’s homelessness and addiction problems that many Irish people struggle with over here, but London is a big city and can be very isolating”
How does she follow her rules of self-care now that she's a big name? She claims that bath-time is where she finds her chill;
“It’s kind of about being really disciplined with yourself about giving yourself a little bit of time. t can be a bit of a luxury, but being in that for, whatever, 20 minutes, and using a face mask. That ritual of putting something on and for ten minutes just hitting pause, I think that’s really important. I’ve started running again, which I haven’t done for a long time. Everyone has to start somewhere."
Be it the start, middle or end, Angela's got it covered. Please be our life coach?
For more information on Aer Lingus and Bank of Ireland's new collaborative Aer Credit Card, click here.
RTE News anchor Caitriona Perry has revealed that she is set to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet.
The 38-year-old announced that she was expecting her first child on Twitter.
She wrote, ''To all the eagle-eyed @rtenews #SixOne viewers who have been in touch…you are correct! I am expecting some ‘news’ of my own later this year.”
To all the eagle-eyed @rtenews#SixOne viewers who have been in touch…you are correct! I am expecting some ‘news’ of my own later this year.
The former Washington correspondent then received many well wishes from her friends and colleagues.
Her co-anchor Keelin Shanley said, ''We’re all delighted Caitriona – v exciting – congratulations”.
Catriona spent four years working as RTE’s News and Current Affairs Correspondent in Washington before she and Keelin took over Six One from Brian Dobson and Sharon Ni Bhain.
Huge congratulations to Catriona and her husband on this fantastic news.
The picture showed how the cake mimicked a graphic portrayal of the birth itself – with a babies' head crowning in the middle.
She captioned it, ''My sister in law. And I can’t stress that enough IN LAW. surprised me with a horrifying cake and i can’t thank her enough. So I won’t thank her at all. @mofischhh something is truly wrong with you and i love you.''
Her 7.8 million followers were clearly as horrified by it as we were and took to the comments to say so.
While another wrote, ''Might be the funniest cake I have ever seen.''
Amy announced she was expecting her first child with her husband Chris in October and has been keeping fans up to date with how the pregnancy has been going.
And now we'll have a hard time getting that cake out of our brains…
When Stormi was born, her mother spoke about how wonderful the experience of pregnancy had been for her, after logging off social media for the entire nine months,
"Pregnancy has been the most beautiful, empowering, and life-changing experience I've had in my entire life and I'm actually going to miss it," Kylie wrote to her millions of followers.
"I appreciate my friends and especially my family for helping me make this special moment as private as we could. My beautiful and healthy baby girl arrived February 1st and I just couldn't wait to share this blessing," she added.
"I've never felt love and happiness like this I could burst! Thank you for understanding."
Kylie has consistently documented her baby girl's numerous milestones throughout the last 12 months with her fans, and shared her desire for another child.
E! News reported that Kylie and Travis plan on welcoming baby number two, "sooner rather than later," claiming, "She wants lots of babies and for them to be close in age."
Their current family of three look over the moon with joy, Happy first birthday Stormi, you're one lucky baby.
Margot Robbie has broken her silence on the reoccurrig societal expectation that so many women face on a daily basis – presuming that once they are married, having a baby will naturally follow.
The wedding band is barely on women's fingers (if even) and people think it's acceptable to pry into their private live and fertility.
The 28-year-old addressed the problem when she was speaking to Radio Times, and admitted that she was fed up with the presumptions.
She drew parallels with her character Queen Elizabeth I in her new movie, Mary Queen of Scots , when she said, “It made me really angry; how dare some old guy to dictate what I can and can’t do when it comes to motherhood or my own body?''
She added, ''Unfortunately, it’s a conversation we’re still having.”
Margot wed filmmaker Tom Ackerley in 2016, and since then, the question of motherhood has been on many interviewers lips.
She said, ''I’m so angry that there’s this social contract. You’re married, now have a baby. Don’t presume. I’ll do what I’m going to do.“
She also went on to express her frustration at the lack of strong female roles, which resulted in her setting up her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment.
She said, ''I wasn't seeing many scripts where I wanted to play the female role – I always wanted to play the male role.''
She continued, ''The female roles are always a catalyst for the male story, and that’s unsatisfying. So I was like ‘Well, we’ll start making our own films because we can’t just sit around forever and wait for them to come along’.”
She posted a snap of and fiance Dan Lawry kissing alongside balloons which said things like, ''July 2019'', ''Blessed'' and ''Oh baby''.
She captioned it, ''Baby Lawry arriving 9th July 2019. So relieved I can finally reveal this news, it's been super hard to hide for months I've been a bit quiet dealing with sickness, tiredness, bad skin you know the result, but the belly is growing and it's pretty much impossible to hide now.''
She continued, ''It definitely was a surprise and wow what a blessing this is, I cannot wait to meet this special little human, you are going to be so loved! Feeling so grateful and excited to start this new journey and fall in love forever…We already love you so much.''
They got engaged in January 2017 and tied the knot six months later in a casual ceremony across the street from their home.
Jamie told James Cordon on his show that, ''I literally woke up in my own bed and walked across the street, and we had our ceremony."
He continued, ''When we couldn't find anything we just asked the woman who owns the house across the street, ‘Do you mind if we do it there?' And she was like, ‘Yes, that's amazing.' So we walked across the street and then when it was done, we spent the night on that property and we crossed the street and came home."
If you are unfamiliar with the term 'reproductive coercion', it's essentially when another person has more control over your reproductive health than yourself.
Hilary Freeman of The Guardian is now reporting that more women than imagined have no idea that reproductive coercion is a form of abuse.
Studies have revealed that a shocking one-in-four women who attend sexual health clinics report coercion over their reproductive lives, including 'contraceptive sabotage', such as covert condom removal.
According to BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, available evidence about the abusive behaviour needs to be updated to 2017 and widen the spectrum of activities involved to include familial pressure, criminal activity and exploitation within sex trafficking.
As well as not being able to choose contraceptives to use or take control of their own reproductive health, reproductive control takes the form of contraceptive sabotage, such as convert condom removal or needling a hole in a condom.
Not being able to decide whether to start or continue a pregnancy is a major factor, research shows, and the concept of reproductive control (especially over women's autonomy) by others was first described in 2010.
It is important we are aware of who is doing the decision making when it comes to reproduction and are mindful of how control over contraception can manifest itself into physical and psychological harm.@HFreemanauthor explores #coercivecontrol below:https://t.co/uvj59lG05N
Women's experience of interference with their autonomy goes back centuries, arguably, but research indicates that younger women are particularly vulnerable, as well as those in the black community and racial minorities.
The practice is scarily common, with women having decisions taken away from them by partners, exploiters or family, invalidating consent.
One-in-four women attending sexual healthcare clinics are reporting persuasive methods, emotional blackmail, threatened or actual infidelity and physical violence predominantly perpetrated by male partners but also criminal gangs.
Other examples of contraceptive sabotage include; partners lying about having a vasectomy or sterilisation, refusing to wear condoms, forceful removal of condoms, not using the withdrawal method properly, piercing barrier contraceptives or throwing away contraceptive pills.
Condom removal during sex is referred to as 'stealthing', and is now classified as sexual assault. Spiking drinks or food to induce abortion also was mentioned as occurrences.
The consequences are often emotionally difficult to bear; unintended or unwanted pregnancy, higher abortion risk, higher STI rates and emergency contraceptive usage.
Women in violent, abusive relationships prove especially vulnerable to reproductive coercion, but many are unaware that they are being subjected to reproductive control.
"The degree of control that a male partner can have will vary from mild to extreme. Milder amounts of control may not be perceived by the victim as unhealthy or abusive."
"Women in a long term relationship may become inured to significant levels of reproductive control," the study's authors write.
The study calls on healthcare professionals must play a crucial part in noticing and preventing this horrifically controlling behaviour.
Diane Kruger has made an emotional plea for her newborn daughter's privacy after unauthorised images of the little girl were leaked.
She revealed her pregnancy in May and her little bundle of joy was born in November. Kruger told Extra; “She’s very little, but I’m tired. I feel like a superhero right now.”
The 42-year-old actress only recently welcomed her first baby with boyfriend Norman Reedus, and explained via her Instagram account that the photos were not permitted to be captured.
She captioned the photo of an image featuring her baby's face blurred out;
“Dear fans, dear non fans, dear paparazzi and anyone with a conscience. We were just tagged in these paparazzi pictures of me and our daughter. These pictures were taken without our consent and expose a vulnerable and innocent baby,”
“While we understand that some people would like to see a picture of our daughter, we as parents, want nothing more than allow her to grow up in privacy and safety," she added.
Tagging her boyfriend Reedus, she concluded; “Me and @bigbaldhead would kindly ask you not to repost these pictures and help us achieve that goal."
The former Ex on the Beach star has announced the news on her Instagram, posting a cute snap of her cradling her baby bump.
The 26-year-old spoke to The Sun about starting a family with her new boyfriend.
She said, ''Our beautiful baby surprise. My boyfriend and I are over the moon to share the news that we are expecting a baby and we are so excited to start a family together."
Her followers were delighted with the news and took to the comments to express how happy the were for her.
One said, ''Congratulations being a mummy is the most amazing opportunity in the world.''
While another wrote, ''This has made me teary!! I’m so happy for you!!! You’re going to be the best mumma.''
Becca then went on her Instagram Stories to thank everyone for their support.
She wrote, ''Overwhelmed at the love and support from all your beautiful messages. Thank you so much. I can’t reply to all individually but thank you again. Crazy how a few lovely messages can make you feel. I’m so happy. We are so happy."
We wish you a fab pregnancy and a beautiful healthy baby.
