Kate Middleton just made her first post-maternity leave appearance after giving birth to her third child, Prince Louis, back in April. Similar to her first two postpartum engagements, the Duchess of Cambridge kicked things off with a local visit to Paddington in West London. She made a trip to the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden, a community garden where children are given an active role in planting vegetables, and can enjoy the outdoors.
However, one person who has taken offence at the duchess's post-baby appearances is Keira Knightly. The actress gave birth to her daughter, Edie, a day before Princess Charlotte was born, and according to the Guardian, she was not best pleased with how Kate presented herself to the world just hours after giving birth to her daughter.
In a newly released feminist essay collection, titled Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies), Keira penned an piece called The Weaker Sex, in which she criticised the Duchess of Cambridge glamorous post-baby appearances.
"We stand and watch the TV screen. She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see," she wrote. "Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging. Look beautiful, look stylish, don't show your battleground, Kate. Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out. Don't show. Don't tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers."
Keira then used her own experience of childbirth as a comparison, writing "My vagina split. You came out with your eyes open. Arms up in the air. Screaming. They put you on to me, covered in blood, vernix, your head misshapen from the birth canal. Pulsating, gasping, screaming."
"You latched on to my breast immediately, hungrily, I remember the pain. The mouth clenched tight around my nipple, light sucking on and sucking out. I remember the s—, the vomit, the blood, the stitches. I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving. And I am the weaker sex?" she continued.
Keira is, of course, addressing the massive pressure that new mothers feel to "bounce back" after going through something as traumatic, and potentially life-threatening as birth. Using the Duchess of Cambridge as an example, the actress is vying for the media to endorse more realistic portrayals of postpartum women.
This comes just weeks after the actress publicly acknowledged that she had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as she struggled with the pressure of becoming famous at a young age.
Keira, who soared to A-list status after starring in the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride and Prejudice, disclosed that she sought therapy as a means of coping with her growing celebrity.
