We literally have not written about Audrina Patridge in years. That’s not necessarily a slam on her. She’s not building an empire like Lauren Conrad, but Audrina also is not a hot mess like Heidi Montag. Audrina is currently expecting her first kid (a girl) by her fiancé Corey Bohan, a professional BMX dirt bike rider. She shows up at events every now and then, but I mostly think that her life is probably pretty low-key. So why cover Audrina’s Fit Pregnancy and Baby magazine interview? I don’t know. I can never predict which celebrity-quotes will set off the mommy wars, so let’s see what we can dig up. Some highlights from Audrina’s interview:
She’s not planning her wedding during her pregnancy: “It’s a little overwhelming. After I have the baby, I have no idea what size my breasts will be or if my hips will go down or get bigger. So for now dress shopping, at least, is on hold.”
She didn’t want to be a knocked-up bride anyway: “I didn’t want to rush getting married because stress is bad for the baby. Corey said, ‘Stop caring what people think. Their opinions don’t matter.’ Anyway, we’ve already been together for so long, it’s like we’re already married. It’s just a title at this point — and a ring.”
They have made the wedding guest list: “We just finalized the guest list, and it’s about 130 people, mostly family. As far as friends go, we only invited the ones who’ve been there for us in the past year and who will continue to be there for us for the next 30. So, no one from The Hills made the cut. If we were doing a really big wedding, I’d invite them, but we’re keeping it intimate.”
She feels like a woman now: “There were three or four days during my first trimester when I could not get out of bed and all I wanted to do was sleep. But overall, I’m feeling good! Watching my body transform has been amazing. I feel like a woman now.”
She’s not doing a home birth: “I’m definitely delivering in a hospital. I’ve had friends who’ve gone without drugs and they’ve said it’s super painful but they’d never do it any other way. Meanwhile, my sister Casey, who has two kids, had an epidural both times and she made childbirth look easy. I’m not sure which route I want to take yet. Either way, I’m a little scared. All I know is, the moment I feel my first contraction, I’m going to the doctor. I want to be in the hospital bed, relaxing, with my lavender-oil diffuser set up.”
“Casey, who has two kids, had an epidural both times and she made childbirth look easy…” That’s my kind of competitive-childbirth story. Let’s encourage moms to compete about who had the easiest, most stress-free births instead of all of these God-awful horror stories about home births gone wrong, and wanting to power through childbirth with no drugs after only gaining 5 pounds during your pregnancy. Granted, I haven’t given birth (and I don’t want to), but I respect that Audrina very simply states her preference to give birth in a hospital. Flame war! Home-birthing flame war!
As for “I feel like a woman now,” I think if Audrina was a different celebrity, she would be getting more shade there. I rolled my eyes and thought “so pregnancy is what makes someone a ‘real woman’ now?” But since it’s Audrina Patridge saying it, will there be any yelling?
Photos courtesy of Fit Pregnancy.
She’s not saying it right. What she means is that when pregnant, you watch your body go through epic transformations. Then, when it’s over, everything is a little bit wider, lower, flatter, lol. It’s a second puberty, for sure — a sentiment I read recently over at Pregnant Chicken. I matured in a hurry with my first pregnancy and baby, but I’m not sure that has much to do with the ‘woman’ label either.
See? This makes sense to me. If women said it this way, I’d be like “ok I get it!”
It’s not that she’s not allowed to say that she feels more like a woman–of course she is–it’s just that it’s kind of a common thing that pregnant women say and it feeds into the whole “joy of pregnancy” narrative that women feel pressured to perpetuate.
I also know that some women genuinely LOVE being pregnant (two of my friends I can think of) and enjoy the transformations their bodies go through. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that because it all looks so horrible to me lol, but I think it’s awesome that some women really embrace pregnancy. More power to them.
Anyway, I’m happy for Audrina. I shamefully watched The Hills back in the day and she always seemed like a sweetheart–not the brightest bulb–but a sweetheart nevertheless. On, and Corey is really sexy.
I definitely like the way you put it. However, I also have to say that it does have to do with being a “woman” for some people. For some women, that transformation and/or transition into motherhood is part of their idea of womanhood. I think the issue here is the societal perception that “motherhood = womanhood” and society projecting that on to *all* women.
But she didn’t say this is the only way to womanhood. She said SHE felt like a woman, that’s what it took for her to feel it. That’s ok too no? I know for me pregnancy made me feel like I had super powers lol
Came to say the same! She’s not saying you can’t feel like a woman until you’ve been pregnant. She’s saying that was her experience. She’s allowed that opinion.
She most certainly is. And also allowed to say so.
Yeah, I don’t think we should be picking on a pregnant women. She is only talking about herself.
That’s true, however it leaves out the women who may not be able to have children, whether biologically or by choice. And the year being 2016, not 1816 people should be more careful about their word choice.
However, as someone pointed out – there’s no use in scrutinizing a quote from someone like Adriana in the first place.
I sometimes wonder if we nitpick words used by our friends, co-workers and family during casual conversation as much as we do with celebs, but of course the answer is no because that would make us insufferable people to be around. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what she said, but I imagine a lot of people with push their personal issues onto her statement. She seemed so vapid on the hills so I’m glad she feels real “womanly” now…
We sometimes nitpick celebs to an insane degree, even more so ones we don’t much care for! I’ve seen some jump to absolutely the worst interpretation possible of a quote and they won’t give the person in question the benefit of the doubt.
I am very guilty of nitpicking words. I think it’s based on my love of language and words, and a strange pleasure in deciding what they really mean and how they could have been better. Often times, I think people misunderstand when I criticize the words a person chose, and they believe I’m saying the speaker or writer is a terrible person, when I’m really just saying that the words the person chose to express their opinion were terrible. I often express myself poorly, and I’m a well-intentioned person, so I don’t believe that choosing your words poorly makes you awful. But I think I get so caught up in the phrases that maybe that doesn’t come across.
We do go crazy with parsing celeb’s words. Sometimes I find it to be a fun-if-useless exercise and other times I find it completely exasperating.
I think it’s 2 things:
1: seeing the words written in front of us, rather than spoken
2: time and the ability to revisit. If your friend said something or wrote it in an email or text, it wouldn’t live on or be repeated or be seen multiple times. You’d have moved on to the next part.
I also think it has to do with the way that people with such a huge platform tend to have such an influence on daily life. There’s nothing wrong with her message per se, but it does fit into the larger narrative that @HH mentioned before. Namely, all women are cast under this blanket of “well, so and so said they feel more womanly, therefore ALL of women must feel like way.” Confirmation bias and all that.
And it’s not just in relation to pregnancy. As I said yesterday, I’ve struggled with uterine issues since I was 11. I’ve tried numerous things and the doctors refuse to consider a hysterectomy because “I’m too young” or “I might change my mind” or “decide later that I want kids” even though I’ve repeatedly stated that I have no interest in being pregnant and that there are other options if I do change my mind. The same holds true for a friend of my mother’s who is battling breast cancer. She asked for a mastectomy and the doctors refused, instead just removing the lump. Well, her cancer returned worse than before and she will most likely have to have one anyway.
Long rant, but it’s just incredibly frustrating to be told that I have the power to make decisions about my old health, only to discover that I, in fact, do not. And I find it hard to believe that if a man, dealing with testicular issues for example, experienced the same struggles as I am, that he would be told “we can’t do that, you might change your mind about wanting kids.”
+1 to Bridget and Ary
I do know someone who does this and I get so much anxiety around her because at any minute I’ll say the wrong thing.
Adrina was always my favorite and good for her.
Can’t say as pregnancy made me feel like a woman. More like irritable, constantly-starving and even more snarky than usual. Also, I got spots. I did not get spots as a teenager, for heavens sakes. I. Did. Not. Glow. It was a relief when it was all over, both times. I feel you should be able to buy babies in shops. Why has medical science thus far failed to achieve this?!
On the upside, the ensuing babies were worth it. And no weight gain!
Yeah I certainly don’t feel like skipping about the place…couldn’t if I wanted to.
No spots for me but as a previously unheadachey person I have been plagued with blinding migranes at random intervals which is delightful and resulting in Mr Lindy not knowing how the hell to cope with me lying sobbing in bed of an evening when I’m home from work with a wet facecloth over my eyes and petting one of our cats reassuringly to make myself feel better. The lack of body autonomy is an odd one for me.
Oh sympathies, darling. Glowing is overrated, honest. That’s our story anyway, and we should stick to it!
Thanks Sixer, and if I hear “you’re on the home stretch” again….I shan’t be responsible for my actions
And interestingly, I haven’t had a migraine since I got pregnant, and I used to have them at least twice a month until then. Now I’m breastfeeding and still no migraine, I suppose it’s something about the hormones or something like that.
My intent is absolutely not to concern troll you, but have you spoken with your doc about the blinding headaches? I only mention it because I had the same issue in my pregnancy six months ago and it ended up being a blood pressure issue. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly!
@fruitloops
I think migraines are somewhat hormonal. My mom and grandma both started getting migraines during menopause. My mom will get a migraine about once a month, she also gets a few zits, and is hungrier before she gets them. I think she gets them instead of starting her period.
I use to have horrible allergies but they stopped once I had a baby and that was 4 years ago.
Migraines only started for me after my first child was born, now I get them with my period… The wonderful changes our bodies go through!
Meh. I wouldn’t take it like that. Pregnancy *does* make you feel womanly. She never said it was the only way to feel womanly – she’s also pretty young. My aunt has never given birth and I’m pretty sure that she feels womanly lol. I have given birth, but I can also think of lots of things – at my ripe old age of 40 – non-birth-related that make me feel womanly.
Who is this person? And what did she feel like before?
Ha-Ha!
She has the most pronounced sanpaku eyes.
I didn’t take it to mean that pregnancy makes you a woman but that it made her grow up. But maybe I’m reaching. “Woman” could simply mean adult. I don’t care. She was only speaking about herself and not generalizing.
I’m sorry but if a person with a penis can decide they feel like a woman then an actual woman should be able to say being pregnant makes her feel like a woman. I mean come on.
LOVE this comment!
I remember the day in my mid twenties when I felt comfortable calling myself a woman, as opposed to a girl. Nothing special happened, I just realized that it didn’t make me squirm anymore. I’m not sure if that’s what she means, or if she just means it made her feel extra womanly or feminine. Either way, having a baby is something that only a woman can do, so certainly I can see how it would make you feel part of a “club.” I don’t have a problem with her saying that. She didn’t say that only women who have children know what it’s like to be a woman, or anything of that nature.
I feel slightly guilty for feeling like a woman BEFORE my pregnancies. Now I feel like an overworked kitchen help with no benefits.
Right! My daughter said Mommy you are like Cinderella you clean up after all of us. Glad I can be of service.
Your two posts made me laugh so hard. Very cute.
Biologically, a woman’s only purpose is to give birth. No baby, no genes passed on. So I give her a pass. 😉
Ceiling Eyes tried hard to make something happen after The Hills, but nothing really stuck because she’s not exactly a ball of fire.
Ceiling Eyes, lmao. Are you an ONTDer? That name came back to me when I saw her pic.
That nickname seems to have stuck! I don’t even know where it came from 🙂
Ooh yay, I can compete! I have only gained ONE pound my entire pregnancy. Mmmhmm beat that.
Granted I’ve had all day sickness and been on every kind of nausea medicine/helpful hint available and lost 10 pounds and have struggled very hard to and been (gently) scolded by my OB that I need to gain weight, dammit!
Being pregnant is hard.
Induced both times by choice (I wanted to be at the hospital — no diffuser needed — when my water broke; not in a subway or middle of the street, etc., Also, I could not tell them EPIDURAL enough times…just so they did not forget.
I never understood the competitive, painful, childbirth stories; thank you for finally saying it.
As someone who has a painful childbirth story (was induced but was so out of it that it took over a day before I remembered I could ask for an epidural…doh!), I think its less about being competitive and more a case of “wow, I cant believe that I went through that and lived to tell the tale!”. For most of us, it is one of the most physically stressful (traumatic?) things we will ever experience and telling the story can be a great way of processing that and also relating to others who have gone through something similar.
I totally wish my experiences were as great as your though, they sound wonderful 🙂
I’m ok with what she said. She looks really happy and i’m happy about that for her. I remember her and Corey and he was horrible to her for a bit there on the Hills.
Never had children or been married but for some women I know it’s a major thing in life. If for her this means she is a woman now, ok. It wouldn’t for me but i’m different than her. I’m just happy for her. Look how happy she looks!
Pregnancy seems to suit Audrina! I like how she isn’t all guns blazing about what she intends to do for her birth – like super militarized and judgey about a birth plan like many celebs we read about. We all know that giving birth is different for every woman and truthfully you never know what will pan out until you’re in the moment. Happy and healthy pregnancy and delivery to her!