In 1991, Demi Moore sparked a revolution when she posed pregnant and naked on the cover of Vanity Fair. Her confident stance and defiant gaze radiated strength and sexuality, and practically overnight, a beautiful baby bump became a feature that celebrities no longer felt the need to conceal. If anything, the exact opposite has happened in the years since that scandalous cover. More and more celebs are opting to bare all while pregnant. They’re posing for major magazine covers like Vogue, Marie Claire, Ebony and W magazine. They’re shedding their clothing at home and taking gorgeous pregnant selfies that millions of fans are sharing and loving on Instagram.
Naked pregnant photo shoots are less a trend than they are a way of life for celebrities. These celebs felt so confident and secure about their bodies while pregnant that they shared the wealth with the rest of us — and have, in turn, inspired us to view pregnancy as an even more beautiful and, yes, even glam, chapter of our lives.
Blac Chyna
Blac Chyna posed naked for the cover of Paper magazine, as part of its September 2016 1,000 Beautiful People issue. She looks glorious with her hair flowing, tattoos shining and a sparkly crown topping off the whole look. As the fiance of Rob Kardashian, Chyna follows in the footsteps of her famous soon-to-be sister-in-law, Kim Kardashian, who also posed nude for the magazine back in 2014.
Demi
She may have posed on the magazine cover that launched a million replicas, but back in 1991, Demi Moore, who was seven months pregnant with daughter Scout when Annie Leibovitz photographed her naked and holding her belly and breasts, had no idea how iconic the image could prove to be. “It did seem to give a little bit more permission to feel sexy, attractive when you’re pregnant,” Moore told V Magazine. “But I really didn’t expect for the response to be what it was. I was pretty shocked.” So were some retailers, who apparently threw paper bags over the magazine to not offend people. Boy, have times changed. Thanks in part to Moore’s cover, no one so much as flinches at the sight of a beautiful pregnant body on display.
Christina Aguilera
In 2014, Christina Aguilera’s life was filled to the brim with joy and excitement, and she turned to V Magazine to help her document the last stages of her pregnancy with Summer Rain Rutler, the singer’s second child with Matt Rutler (she is also mom to 8-year-old Max Liron, whose dad is ex-husband Jordan Bratman). Aguilera has always struck us as a woman who is comfortable with her body, and that didn’t change at all during pregnancy. “As a woman, I’m proud to embrace my body through all stages of life, staying fearless and confident in surrendering to the unknowns the future has in store,” she told V Magazine.
Britney Spears
In August 2006, Britney Spears admitted she knew darn well she wasn’t supposed to be “this huge pregnant superstar.” But Spears, who was pregnant with her first son, Jayden James Federline, at the time, posed for these photos baring both her body and her soul. “It made me want to cry a little bit, doing these photos,” Spears told Harper’s Bazaar. “I started feeling like myself again.” The pop star, who had suffered in public from depression, seemed to be feeling better and getting a handle on her fame thanks in part to motherhood. This ethereal photo shoot depicts her at that moment when her life was changing yet again, but this time she was finally in the driver’s seat.
Nia Long
Actress Nia Long was 40 when she posed naked and pregnant for the cover of Ebony magazine in 2011. She revealed that she and partner Ime Udoka wanted a child together (she had an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship at the time) but that she had been told it would be difficult because of her age. Long told Ebony that she asked God for her baby and that more women her age and older shouldn’t give up hope if they want to start families. “The medical [profession] tries to tell every woman, ‘Have your babies before 40, because you shouldn’t have children after 40,’” Long said. “Society tells us, ‘Get married before 30, because no man wants a woman after 30.’ You are not half the woman you’re gonna be until you turn 30. You’re not even half of that woman yet. So I think if we’d just take our time as women, and do what comes natural to us and for us, we would make fewer mistakes.”
Cindy Crawford
As one of the most famous supermodels of all time, Cindy Crawford has graced more than 400 magazine covers. But we can bet her pregnant and nude photo shoot for W magazine is the memorable one hanging on her bedroom wall. Crawford, who was pregnant with son Preston when this photo was shot in 1999, told Yahoo! Beauty that the photo, which helped the magazine issue sell out on newsstands, was never meant to be a nude. All the outfits that stylist Joe Zee tried on the model looked awkward because she was only a few months pregnant and hadn’t yet “popped.” In an effort to make her “show” more, the decision was made to let Crawford pose naked, and the rest was history.
Jessica Simpson
There’s only so much pregnant nakedness the public is willing to take, and in April 2012, Jessica Simpson and her glorious nude pregnant body on Elle magazine’s cover was too much to handle. Multiple people at a Safeway supermarket in Arizona reportedly complained about the cover and even covered it up with cardboard. The singer and actress, who was pregnant with daughter Maxwell Drew at the time, told Ryan Seacrest that not only didn’t she have a problem posing nude, but it was totally her idea. “They didn’t even ask me to do that,” Simpson said. “It was my idea. It kind of just seemed a natural thing for me to do. I’m like, 170 pounds, and I wanted to pose nude. I try to be, like, 110 pounds. It’s funny to be at your heaviest and feel the most confident. I just take such pride in being a mom! I just love my body more than ever now.”
Jaime King
Let’s just get this out of the way: Model and actress Jaime King DGAF what you, me or anyone else thinks of her pregnant body. While pregnant with her second child, she made that fact very clear with a topless underwear photo she posted on Instagram (it has since been “accidentally deleted” by her 2-year-old son) and a caption that kicks all kinds of ass: “My body. My growing body open for comments. Plain as day. I, like every other woman, bracing for your judgments. This is who I am. And I love me in every flaw and curve or flat or thin area. And I love you as well in every form that your body takes.”
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey was pregnant with twins Moroccan and Monroe when she posed for Life & Style magazine and allowed her flowing locks to be the only thing that came between the camera and her bare body. Her children were kicking away inside of her belly almost the entire time she shot the pictures, and Carey admitted it can be a little strange to strike a nude pose while pregnant. “I was feeling very vulnerable about taking pictures at all right now, but then, I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to document this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Carey said. “My ultimate goal was to share this incredibly personal moment with my true fans.”
Claudia Schiffer
It seems only right that supermodel Claudia Schiffer would choose to pose naked and pregnant for Vogue Germany, the country from which she hails. Schiffer was carrying her third child in June 2010 (daughter Cosima Violet de Vere Drummond) and told the publication she felt it was important to show the world the natural beauty of pregnancy. “My first Vogue cover 20 years ago was a very special moment, and I’d never have thought that doing this edition with Vogue would give me such a familiar buzz,” Schiffer said. “It was important to us to show how beautiful it is to be a woman and that you can have a positive attitude towards your body, including when you’re expecting.”
Monica Bellucci
Italian actress Monica Bellucci is no stranger to defying stereotypes — at 51, she is still considered one of the most beautiful women on the planet. She posed pregnant and naked for Vanity Fair Italia in both 2004 and again in 2010. The second time around, Bellucci had no problem tackling questions about women, age and their pregnant bodies: “Women who have children late like me are always told how brave they are, and it’s true that the older you are, the more risks you run both for the child and yourself,” Bellucci said. “But I don’t feel brave. I just feel very lucky. I already have a healthy daughter who I gave birth to in Umbria like an ordinary farm wife. This second pregnancy is just as fantastic, but I would say I was an example to follow.”
Kim Kardashian
Love her or hate her, Kim Kardashian knows she can’t win — so she didn’t even try while pregnant with her second child, son Saint West, and instead gave fans a glimpse of her pregnant body in its entirety on Instagram, along with a message that proves she’s a lot more clued in than some people give her credit for: “First they said I’m too skinny so I have to be faking it…Now they say I’m too big so I have to be faking it…SMH! Some days I’m photographed before I eat & look smaller, some days I’ve just eaten & I look bigger. It’s all a part of the process. I think you all know me well enough to know I would document the process if I got a surrogate. Everyone’s body is different, every pregnancy is very different! I’ve learned to love my body at every stage! I’m going to get even bigger & that’s beautiful too! I’m blessed to even be pregnant & even luckier to not have preeclampsia as far as I know, so I don’t have the swelling issue this time! They also say your body carries a boy different than a girl! Whatever the case may be I’m grateful to God for this miracle & no matter what rumors or comments you throw my way this time they truly don’t affect me!”
Kerri Walsh Jennings
Olympic volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings posed twice for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, but the second time she admitted it was far more difficult for her to pose naked after she had given birth than while she was carrying her baby for her 2013 cover shoot. Walsh Jennings, who has three children, says she viewed each pregnancy as an opportunity to transform her body. “Now I’m more symmetrical,” she said. “I have new body awareness. I’m more conscious of my core; that’s something I worked hard to get back after each pregnancy. But having babies — literally delivering a baby — makes me feel like Wonder Woman. Everything else seems minor compared to the soul-shaking thing that is labor.”
Alanis Morissette
Some stars don’t wait for magazines to request to capture the most beautiful and serene photo of them (ever). While expecting her second child with husband Mario “Souleye” Treadway, a heavily pregnant Alanis Morissette took matters into her own hands and posed naked underwater, then posted the gorgeous photo on Instagram for all to see. If the ethereal photo isn’t enough to warm your heart, then the image’s caption, which is a quote from her son Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway, will be: “You have to be extra gentle around ladies because they are the most helpful people in the world ’cause they make persons.'”
Kourtney Kardashian
While expecting her third child with Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian felt great about her body and showed the world she gets both her good looks and confidence from her own mom, Kris Jenner. The reality star posted side-by-side photos of herself and Jenner in almost exactly the same nude pregnant pose, and her more than 43 million Instagram followers were grateful. Her caption on the photo couldn’t have been more perfect: “I got it from my mama.”
Christina Aguilera
In 2014, Christina Aguilera’s life was filled to the brim with joy and excitement, and she turned to V Magazine to help her document the last stages of her pregnancy with Summer Rain Rutler, the singer’s second child with Matt Rutler (she is also mom to 8-year-old Max Liron, whose dad is ex-husband Jordan Bratman). Aguilera has always struck us as a woman who is comfortable with her body, and that didn’t change at all during pregnancy. “As a woman, I’m proud to embrace my body through all stages of life, staying fearless and confident in surrendering to the unknowns the future has in store,” she told V Magazine.
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