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.

After personally confirming her pregnancy via Instagram in December 2017, Khloe Kardashian shared a bunch of Snapchats (via People) that illustrated how she's keeping fit while her little bundle develops inside her. The 33-year-old posted a series of workouts — from using the step machine, to weights, to resistance band training — while clad in black Nike sportswear and a flannel shirt wrapped around the bump.

This particular series of posts, it would seem, caused a flurry of disdain and faux-concern from her followers — reactions that Kardashian will not take lying down. Delivering the perfect clapback via her Twitter account, the reality TV star called out those "who think they are physicians all of a sudden," and stated that her workouts are "cleared and highly recommended." She also insinuated that if such negative comments continued she would "stop sharing sh*t." Along with her post, she included a link to an article that offers 33 reasons to stay active when pregnant.

Kardashian is the author of Strong Looks Better Naked and star of her own makeover show, Revenge Body — so it would appear that she has already turned hurtful comments about her appearance into her own empire. Can't think of a more empowering way to shut down haters and shamers.

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!

Want to avoid chatting politics? Good, so do we. Although, no doubt, you've heard of the family Lara Trump married into back in 2014, it appears that a powerful connection doesn't eliminate you from the wrath of internet shamers. Especially if you happen to share videos of yourself working out — while nine months pregnant — to hundreds of thousands of strangers on Instagram.

In September 2017, Trump posted an Instagram video that showed her undertaking a weight lifting sequence in her third trimester — you can hear her trainer in the background saying "week 39, still kicking ass!" The post was captioned: 'Hoping the workout inspires this baby to make an appearance!!'

While we doubt she literally wanted her baby to slide out onto the floor of the gym — which would have been far from ideal — that didn't stop the swathes of patronizing comments pouring in. "Be careful young lady," wrote one follower, "your baby will come when he's ready." Another wrote, "An [sic] workout in your 8th month that is so disturbing, and rightly so." Another passionate commenter wrote: "Sounds pretty selfish and a tad negligent regarding the baby and its residence card being revoked!!!! This is a train we all know we cannot get off of till its time.... Chill Lara, u still look good and u know it!!!"

With that many exclamation marks, it doesn't seem like Lara is the one who needs to chill.

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.

She may have been weeks away from giving birth, but did that stop comedian Kevin Hart's wife, Eniko Hart, from hitting the gym? No, no it did not. In an Instagram video posted 39 weeks into her pregnancy, Hart proved to us all how strong she is via a series of workouts, and stated how important "remaining mentally and physically strong for the sake of baby boy and health" was to her. Yet, despite her crystal clear dedication to both her and her baby's health, her video still received backlash.

Yep, among the many comments on that post that praised her abilities were those claiming that Hart was "obsessed with looking good." Another comment read, "It's good to stay healthy but think of the unborn." While a third went for the classy, "cover up, we know you're pregnant." Nice.

One shared an account of a person they knew who "decided to keep working out [and] the worst happened. The baby did not die, but has something similar to Down Syndrome. The children live in a wheelchair." And while this message is clearly devastating for the family in question, it is actually not helpful to share this with Hart. It doesn't take into consideration that each pregnancy is extremely individual. It totally discounts Hart's ability to seek advice and continue exercising at her own discretion.

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.

Proving that pregnancy workout shame doesn't just affect young first-time moms, Jessica Alba was 36 years old and pregnant with her third when her fitness activities were slapped by the troll brigade.

At the time, Alba was already the mother to two daughters with her husband Cash Warren, so — you'd assume — she already has a good sense of what her body can handle during pregnancy. In fact, she told Well+Good in 2017 that it's important for her "to continue to exercise so that I can potentially have an easier postpartum recovery." Yet, after sharing workout videos to her Instagram stories (via YouTube), and being snapped by paps leaving the gym on multiple occasions, people assumed she was putting her unborn child at risk for the sake of vanity.

One particularly nasty comment courtesy of a Daily Mail reader suggested, "this woman works out because she's very narcissistic... look at her commentary 'lunge for that booty' is that what's important to her in this pregnancy? It's all about vanity for this woman since that's the only 'talent' she has." While another reads, "not sure I'd want to risk the health of my unborn baby by working out so much for vanity reasons."

Charming. 

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.

"Girl sit yo pregnant butt down." "Crushing the baby smh." "What's with all of the lifting weights while pregnant?" "Shes doing 2 much smdh poor baby getting squashed." "Not worth it!" "That's way too much for a pregnant person." These comments are but a fraction of the scorn that flooded Angela Simmons' Instagram account after posting a video of her pregnancy workout in June 2016.

At the time, Simmons — who you would know best from MTV's Run's House, in which she starred alongside her father, Run DMC's Reverend Run (Joseph Simmons) — was expecting her first child with her then-partner, Sutton Tennyson. 

Clearly making an effort to deflect the haters, she captioned the Instagram post: "I am extremely excited to have experts with me on this new journey," and linked through to a professional New York based training company. But did the "Insta-doctor" parade take a moment to consider that she was taking her pregnancy fitness routine seriously and with foresight?

Apparently not.