Hilaria Baldwin: ‘I feel awful when I’m on birth control; it makes me depressed’

Hilaria Baldwin covers the new issue of Romper and the interview is just as bonkers as you would think. Keep in mind, since Hilaria’s lies about being “from Spain” were outed in late 2020, she’s never explained exactly why she lied or what this whole thing was really about. Romper doesn’t press Hilaria on the subject, they merely note (hilariously) that she grew up in Boston and merely “visited” Spain a lot. Which, again, does not make her Spanish or from Spain, dios mio. Even beyond that, this piece with Hilaria is massively creepy. Some highlights:

Her stepdaughter Ireland had a baby: “I love being a grandmother. My kids get a kick out of it. They feel like they’re so grown up; they’re like, ‘Well, I can do this because I’m an uncle now.’ I send things to Ireland all the time. My favorite swaddle or my favorite bathtub or whatever. The towels, all these things.” As the mother of seven, I ask, is she the one everyone else goes to for mom advice? “My friend and his wife had a baby a year ago, and he’s always coming to me with questions. He loves golf, and he’s like, ‘I think of you as the Tiger Woods of babies.’”

Her reproductive choices: “People like to have a lot of opinions about women’s reproductive choices. Either we have too many kids, or we have too few. We don’t do it exactly as we should. We don’t put the hat on the baby. And then people say, ‘Why doesn’t your baby have a hat?’ And I say, ‘Would you like to come and put the hat on the baby? She’ll take it off and throw it at you.’”

Her background, per Romper: She grew up in Boston, visiting Spain regularly — her parents, a former doctor and lawyer, now live there, as does her brother. She’s bilingual. She graduated from New York University, became a yoga instructor, and co-founded Yoga Vida.

People on the street love her? “Sure, I’ve had times where I feel lonely or isolated, and then I open my eyes and my ears and my mind, and I realize how many amazing people are out there. We walk down the street and people say to us, ‘We’re praying for you. We’re thinking about you.’ They give us hugs. Most of the people who are mean to us are people like the paparazzi, who are making money off tormenting us.”

Whether she loves being pregnant: “Not really,” she says with a shrug. “But I love giving birth. This last time around, I pushed her out in a minute! Giving birth is like going down a water slide that’s really scary. And then you get to the bottom, and you’re like, ‘I want to do this again.’”

Why does she keep getting pregnant? Firstly, there’s the matter-of-fact answer: She’s not on birth control. “I feel awful when I’m on birth control; it makes me depressed,” she says. And Alec’s not interested in other, er, methods. “Every single time I have a baby, my OB writes down the vasectomy doctor on a Post-it, and I bring it home to Alec. He hasn’t done it yet.”

She adores the baby phase: She refers to having babies as “creating love” — and from what I can tell, gets deep joy from taking care of others. This tendency also extends to her husband. “Am I his mommy? Sometimes I’m his mommy. Sometimes. At the beginning of our relationship, everyone was like, ‘She must have daddy issues because she’s married to somebody older.’ But it’s actually the opposite.”

The Reddit community tracking Hilaria Baldwin. They’ve come up with conspiracy theories related to her pregnancies and births, they focus on her background and accent, and they say she’s “harming” her children by showing them on Instagram. In a twist, Hilaria knows many of her Reddit haters’ real identities; she hired a private investigator. She hasn’t done anything with that info and doesn’t plan to. But it makes her feel better to know, and when she describes them to me, they’re exactly who you’d think: lonely, lost people.

[From Romper]

She had seven kids because birth control makes her depressed???? You’d rather bring seven lives into the world just to avoid taking the pill? Jesus. And the fact that she hired a private investigator to identify Reddit posters? Holy sh-t. People tend to turn into armchair diagnosticians when they encounter Hilaria’s whole deal, and I’m no different – to me, the woman comes across as profoundly disturbed and pathologically narcissistic. I also find it upsetting to see outlets go out of their way to portray all of this as normal or even inspirational.

Cover & IG courtesy of Romper.

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80 Responses to “Hilaria Baldwin: ‘I feel awful when I’m on birth control; it makes me depressed’”

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  1. Betsy says:

    Those poor kids. That’s my only thought here.

    That and the Pill isn’t the only form of birth control, and maybe, just maybe in modern times we can admit that seven is an *egregiously* large family.

    • SAS says:

      Yeah, I know lots of people come from big, happy families (my dad is one of 8) but having so many kids in such close proximity is very Duggar-like and raises the question of how much individual nurturing and enrichment is each child actually receiving from their parents? Not my business but something that I’d hope the parents are constantly focused on.

      • Betsy says:

        I know there are lots of big, happy families, but none of the big families in my direct line were the opposite of happy in all senses of the word. I have one friend who is on track for one of these big families and she, who used to be pretty sparky and thought she didn’t have much of an education, she was bright and alert. Now she’s drifted into the Catholicism she used to hate and speaks about what “God wants us to do” and she’s so run off her feet that there’s not much of *her* left.

    • SquiddusMaximus says:

      What do you mean? It’s just like putting a hat on a baby… if that hat were a key brand of your brand mechanism *sideye*

      • SquiddusMaximus says:

        And also — two of those kids were IVF assisted. Very much intentional, so I don’t understand the “happy accident” spin.

    • TOM says:

      Vasectomy’s out? Getting your tubes tied is a thing.

      • Swack says:

        Agree. My husband wouldn’t get one and so I tied the tubes. I wanted no more, my body, my choice. This was 39 years ago.

    • MakingWaves says:

      “I play golf, you’re the Tiger Woods of BS”>>>. Fake spaniard, fake mom (secret surrogates, army of nannies) fake yogi (look at my cooch, it’s yoga).

      • Cat says:

        My best friend is a cancer survivor who had to have a surrogate carry her son. It absolutely does NOT make you a “fake mom.” Men don’t carry their children and no one accuses them of being fake parents.

    • lucy2 says:

      Wasn’t one of them born via surrogacy, while she was pregnant with another? Or something like that? This isn’t an “oh I don’t like taking birth control” situation. And there are many other options than hormonal pills.

    • Megan says:

      Exactly… birth control makes me feel like a lunatic, and I’ve been able to avoid pregnancy other than the three intended times for more than 15 years…

  2. CROWHOOD says:

    I am not supporting this woman in any way. I’m 38 and married and have no kids, by design, so I know It can be done.

    That said- I think It’s important not to minimize how badly birth control can mess with some women. Actual quote from husband at one point during our journey to find a pill that worked was “this one is the most effective bc I don’t Want to be anywhere near you while you’re on it”. Some women (myself included) have truly wild reactions to the pill.

    • SusieQ says:

      I’m almost in the same boat with you. I’m 37, married, and have two stepkids (no biological kids). It definitely can be done.

      Birth control pills are a wild ride. I got drug-induced lupus from the one I was on for many years, and now given my history of migraines with aura and family history of strokes, the pill is not for me. But there are alternatives, and the Baldwins are definitely in a position to access those alternatives.

      • Queen Meghan's Hand says:

        OMG! Lupus! I had no idea the effects of the pill could be an illness.
        I was on the pill for three years to treat my endometriosis; I haven’t been quite the same since and I am so upset that doctors are so quick to put sexually active young people on it.

      • Anna says:

        For once I agree with Hilaria – so got depressed on the pill too. That said, I have one 5yo daughter… so if you want to plan your family, there are many other ways. She is creating a fantasy again, we all know she had all those kids for attention. They will all need a lot of therapy growing up with such a narcissistic parents, good thing they will probably have money for it.

        And I know – big happy family can be a thing but just explain to me how logistically she can spend quality time every day with all those kids, while being pregnant non stop for the past years.

    • Anners says:

      Chipping in to say that being on the pill for a decade wrought havoc on my then- undiagnosed lipedema. Made my body think it was pregnant for years and then somehow surprised that it triggered my fat stores. Le sigh.

    • Susie says:

      This is what I wanted to say. While I don’t think issues with birth control are why she has so many kids(narcissism/attention seeking are my guess), issues with birth control are a very real and can have sometimes severe effects in your daily life. I have had some many problems with sooooo many different types of long term birth controls. One gave me a nearly 2 month of consecutive day of ocean level bleeding along with MAJOR healing of emotional disregulation. Another gave me clots and anemia that required a hospital stay and even the one I am currently on still gives me erratic bleeding every 2-3 weeks but I have no real other options. And honestly I don’t think I alone in having issues, even if not to my extremes.
      Plus depression which was and remains an issue for me (esp surrounding my periods) would probably be extremely hard with multiple kids. Esp with the other parent on location a lot, even with all the money and childcare.
      I think in trying to pushback on the patriarchal idea that we are emotional wrecks cuz of our periods, we are way too quick to diminish how difficult it is to have your hormones goes crazy while you painfully expel blood EVERY SINGLE MONTH for literal decades.

      Also while she and Alex look like insane narcissists I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want a big family. It’s no longer a common choice but it’s still a valid one. Esp with their amount of money. Same with Angelina Jolie and others I know. My best friend growing up had many half siblings with wide age gaps and they were all super close.
      The duggars and other quiverfull families tend to create an abusive patriarchal fundamentalist environment where they basically turn the older kids into unpaid full time caregivers at the expense of the childhoods and own lives. That’s the issue not necessarily the amount of kids that they have. Bad parents are bad parents regardless of how many kids they have.

    • Bee says:

      There are many non hormonal forms of bc. this is a CHOICE. the pill didn’t agree with me so I did other things. I have never been pregnant. for some reason she wants to be a baby factory. blaming the pill is a smokescreen. saying Alex should get snipped is a smokescreen. she could get snipped herself, get a cervical cap, etc.

    • C says:

      I really have a problem with her conflating why her reproductive “habits” (for lack of a better word) are an issue with the very real issues some people have with birth control. Birth control always intensified my migraines and made me feel like crap so I understand that. But this isn’t about her not wanting to be on birth control, let’s be real. I also have an issue with her trying to pretend scrutiny of her baby-collecting and displaying them like shopping bags is misogyny but it doesn’t surprise me.

    • Kate says:

      I also hate birth control and have yet to accidentally conceive because my cycle is pretty regular and we just do rhythm method. I can see having like one oopsy baby but there’s no way that’s what’s happening with them over and over again – they obviously just want more kids

    • Nmb says:

      Amen! hormonal birth control isn’t for everyone. I felt completely sexless and anxious. My hair started falling out too. I will never go on hormonal birth control again. That said, there are other methods for sure. I have just one child despite not taking the pill.

  3. Eurydice says:

    Huh, why would anyone come up to her on the street and say “I’m praying for you.” Do they think she’s in trouble?

    Alex and other, er, methods? Brain bleach, please.

    • yvrjanice says:

      They’re most likely referring to Alex’s accident on the movie set when he shot and killed a woman

      • Eurydice says:

        Ok, but it’s hard for me to believe that random people on the street even recognize her at all, let alone take the time to stop and pray for her.

    • lucy2 says:

      I doubt that happens. I doubt people recognize her on her own, and if she’s with Alec, I kind of doubt people are approaching him and saying that.

      • Granger says:

        I’m not surprised there are people out there who support Alec, or approach him on the street to say as much. Just like there are people who support Trump and Princess Kate.

  4. equality says:

    There are more methods of birth control than just the pill and a vasectomy. She isn’t making herself look bright.

  5. Brassy Rebel says:

    They don’t say if she gave the interview with a Mexican accent or not. I was imagining the whole thing with the accent.

    She does know there are other contraceptive options which don’t involve a pill or her misogynistic husband, right? Maybe I’m being too generous here.

    • SquiddusMaximus says:

      There’s a video! Just as batshite and bizarre as you would imagine. She starts in her American voice (aye de mi!) and then occasionally recalls she’s supposed to be “multi” and leans into some weird accent.

      This woman is so nuts, it’s my favorite, favorite story out there right now. Someone so profoundly out of touch with reality scrambling to legitimize an entirely new identity she created. Like, the celebrity-wife equivalent of Drump trying to justify stealing Top Secret documents, only national security doesn’t get compromised.

  6. HeyKay says:

    Get your tubes tied, a safe and effective solution.
    Baldwins be gone. 👍

  7. atorontogal says:

    Out of the 7, how many did she actually give birth to?

    • GorgeousGecko says:

      Ha same question. The Redditors think it was only one.

    • Queen Meghan's Hand says:

      Carmen.

    • FHMom says:

      I think the last one was also birthed to show her naysayers, but I could be wrong. All I know is that body has not produced 6 kids.

      • Queen Meghan's Hand says:

        Once it was pointed out to me, I could never not see it: It’s all in the face.
        Her face has never changed in her last trimesters since Carmen. Every post-birth photo she shares: her face is the same as it was before she announced the pregnancy. Her stomach is flat within two days.
        To better describe what I mean, look at Kate’s and Meghan’s post-birth photocalls. They gave birth days before and their faces are still full, bellies still distended. Because that is what happens when a person is pregnant. It does not happen that with each subsequent pregnancy, you gain less weight and your uterus contracts more quickly.
        It’s all in the face.

      • Susie says:

        I feel like somethings wrong with me cuz I’m defending her but I think visual cues are one of the worst ways to determine if someone is pregnant or really any non skin related illness.
        I have seen a woman that was completely flat with defined abs less than 8 weeks before she gave birth. Then I saw her 2 weeks prior at the gym looking like a kid with a balloon under her shirt. I felt bad but I kept staring at her doing squats and kettlebell swings cuz it looked so odd and From behind she didn’t even look pregnant AT ALL. I’ve had a neighbor less than 6days postpartum on her 4th kid look as skinny as a VS model. I have a few aunties with multiple kids and currently in their 40-60s remain flat and skinny as an ironing board. My grandma at 90+ has a smoother/flat tummy than most 20yrs and would be a small size 2-4. No stretch mark or even wrinkles and had at least 6 pregnancies.
        Human bodies are super weird (which is why I love them) and much of our expectations are merely the most common outcomes, not the only option.
        She may have faked her pregnancies (she is a major narcissist and has already faked an accent and background) but the proof isn’t going to be how she looked

      • Ange says:

        True it isn’t just the face, but it’s odd that she became this super mami when the first time around she had a totally normal pregnancy and post-partum body/recovery.

        That said smarter people than me have done the deep dive on her timelines and uncovered how it’s implausible for her to have actually been pregnant every time. Plus there are all the photos of her weird, disappearing stomach (she’d be at full bump in one of her pics one day then in the background of another the next day as flat as a board) and her extreme filtering around her belly in pics… Oh and the square bump. Let us never forget the square bump https://www.reddit.com/r/HilariaBaldwin/comments/onfrx5/had_to_brighten_these_photos_the_bump_looks/

  8. Bookie says:

    ¡Dios mío! She hired private detectives to hunt down Reddit posters? That’s bonkers.

    • Nicegirl says:

      Loca how easy it is for folks to hire PI’s to ‘investigate’ others.

      • Kitten says:

        Apparently, Hollywood private investigators are extremely common to the point where it’s a burgeoning industry in LA. I kinda get it in that a lot of these industry types are both paranoid and controlling.

      • Anners says:

        This gave me a fierce longing to be a Veronica Mars- style PI to the stars in Southern California. I’m regretting my life’s decisions…

    • It Really Is You, Not Me I’m says:

      Telling the interviewer that was a threat, right? I took it as a veiled threat to her Reddit critics. She was like, I have the information for my own peace of mind but I KNOW WHO YOU ARE if you keep coming after me!!! The contrast between that and Alec’s comment that she is a person of integrity is astounding to me.

    • Emme says:

      @Bookie, sooo bonkers I think it as truthful as her “accent”…

    • AlpineWitch says:

      I wonder if she tracked me down too but I’m not lost and I’m married so I guess I contradict the narrative she has told herself….

  9. Kc says:

    HB is objectively terrible – no argument from me.

    However, birth control causes many women serious side effects that are swept under the rug – depression being a common one. I am pro birth control but we should have honest conversations about potential side effects. I HIGHLY recommend “This is your brain on birth control” by dr Sarah hill (who is also pro birth control)

    Secondly – why is birth control only a woman’s responsibility. Alec is a grown man (?) and knows where babies come from – this is on HIM as well. Thank

    • lamejudi says:

      I agree. Alexander needs to be the responsible, loving, guy he tries to convince the world he is and get the snip.

      Or Hillary needs to stop door dashing babies and stop pretending she’s been pregnant with every one of the children. Alexander admitted the second youngest daughter was carried by surrogate way before the Romper piece, and she’s the only surrogate they’ve owned up to.

    • AnneL says:

      I was just reading about posters’ experiences with the Pill, including migraines. My daughter has been thinking of getting off of it. She’s been having headaches and some other symptoms. I wonder if it’s related?

      • Ponchorella says:

        I felt really strange on birth control and kept seeing things out of the corners of my eyes. I quit within a month. This was in the 90’s, so maybe it has improved.

      • Susie says:

        @ponchorella I wrote up thread about my many issues with birth control but I didn’t realize this might have been one of the them. I thought I was going crazy when I was seeing things out of the corner of my eye for about a year that may have been relates to one of my attempts at birth control. I am no longer on that pill and I no long see stuff so that may have been connected

      • Anne says:

        There are other options. I’ve had good luck with the copper IUD (Paraguard). Speak with a doctor– there is lots of choice.

  10. Delight175 says:

    I completely agree crowhood. I’m 37, and when I go on the pill I feel miserable. I’m normally a happy go lucky type of person, but the pill makes me feel miserable, depressed, more anxious.

  11. Scarlett says:

    Looks like..how you say…Illaria, is laying the groundwork for una more bebe Baldwinito…ay dios mio!

  12. Grant says:

    She’s … interesting. Mamasita es loca!

    That said, I have more than a few girlfriends who had side effects after using the pill. But the pill is only one form of birth control. Not to mention the fact that some of the onus should be on Alec since, you know, it takes two to make a baby.

  13. girl_ninja says:

    “I feel awful when I’m on birth control; it makes me depressed,” she says. And Alec’s not interested in other, er, methods. “Every single time I have a baby, my OB writes down the vasectomy doctor on a Post-it, and I bring it home to Alec. He hasn’t done it yet.”

    This woman is weird, selfish and not living in reality. Because her family visited Spain a lot and now live there, she is now Spanish? Lawd.

  14. Miranda says:

    I just desperately hope that there is at least one nanny behind the scenes, because my biggest issue with her and Alec having all these kids is that in large families, after kid #3 or #4, the older siblings are almost always pressganged into nurturing roles that they should never be expected to take on. People can talk about it forming closer sibling bonds all they like, but the fact is, with 7 kids, the age gap between the oldest and youngest ensures that you’re gonna have a teenager who will be disinterested at best when it comes to spending time with a toddler, and at worst they’ll flat-out resent it.

    • MaryContrary says:

      There are multiple nannies behind the scenes.

    • Susie says:

      @miranda while I agree resentment or disinterest can occur I don’t think it’s the only outcome. It may not be the majority but I’ve seen many examples of kids with very big to medium age gaps who are genuinely super close. At least in my community it’s very common occurrence. I’ve also seen many kids with close ages who just don’t vibe together. And I’ve seen situations like you said where big gaps mean a far distance between the siblings. An age gap is only 1 factor of many. Including gender, same parents or half siblings, same primary parent, Living together , finances, hobbies, and intensity of caretaking/babysitting duties. For the really big age gaps I find being similar ages to nieces/ nephews usually creates very close bonds thou the older sibling takes the parental role and the younger acts like a close sibling to their niece or nephew esp if they are the same gender. I think a lot of this is more the environment the siblings are raised in and the type parenting more than any age gap or even the amount of kids.

  15. CJ says:

    Really into perpetuating her mythos as a fertile woman with this nonsense about having a baby in 1 minute. I hate this type of rosy glow lie designed to make women who struggle in childbirth feel like failures.

    It’s no wonder she can only point to 1 male friend asking for advice. Notice she can’t say his wife and her stepdaughter (the ones sharing the most common ground with her…) don’t opt in to her mother of the year words of wisdom…

    7 is so many. I can’t even cope when the dog and cat are both vocalising at me at the same time; I have no idea how she and Alec stay calm with so many kids in a similar age bracket.

    ETA: BC can really mess with a woman’s hormones, whether it’s pill implant etc. but as he won’t get a straightforward procedure that would prevent pregnancy and won’t have lasting hormonal impacts on his mind and body… at this point Alec is like 85% responsible for the continued additions and if any of those kids feel unattended.

  16. HeyKay says:

    Can you imagine what it must be like in that house?
    7 kids under 10, Alec with his hair trigger temper, Hilary who is a total narc and gold digging phony, teams of nannies, cleaners, drivers all walking on eggs around the both of them.
    Geez. No thanks.

  17. Mslove says:

    I took birth control pills back in the day, but had to stop because it raised my blood pressure. But I think the pill is different now? Hilaria is stark raving mad.

  18. FrySci says:

    There can be side effects from birth control pills or any drug, but there is a movement right now in the yummy mummy and/or antivaxx and/or cottagecore and/or wellness gangs to post influencer posts on Instagram and TikTok falsehoods about birth control, especially oral contraceptives used by women. These are carefully centered ideas that want to bring back the idea that women should be barefoot and pregnant. It’s not that these women don’t want to be influential (they are influencers after all), but they want to be the experts rather than, say, the actual experts. Hillary Baldwin is on the precipice (I’m trying to be kind) of falling fully into a grifter wellness guru and I question why exactly she says these things.

    • Concern Fae says:

      This. Somehow missed this post yesterday.

      Kaiser, when this comes up, it needs to be mentioned that the right wing is coming for hormonal birth control the way they came for gender affirming care – by claiming that it is endangering people’s health. So, yes, some people have had side effects, but people who are talking them up now, when women’s healthcare is under attack, are playing a dangerous game.

  19. Queen Meghan's Hand says:

    Why won’t this woman just parent in peace?
    Leave us alone!

  20. DIANA ADAMS says:

    I can’t really blame her on this. I took some birth control pills back when I was 19. It was actually to restart my period which had stalled for a while. I felt like total crap for a month.

  21. Jaded says:

    Try an IUD Hils. I had one for ages. Qué estúpida mentirosa…

  22. MaryContrary says:

    I can never get past her filming her daughter when she told her she’d miscarried and then put it up on IG. Oh, and trying to explain racism on MLK day to her kids by showing her “darker” skin. She is a total whack. And Alex should have gotten a vasectomy.

    • juli8574 says:

      Let’s see spray tanned herself and used it as a teachable moment to her daughter on MLK day,Perpetuated lies about her heritage,Alec on Letterman also perpetuated that lie,compared her “struggles” to those of the Duchess of Sussex again trying to make it about her ,and baby hoarder.Why is this woman given a platform and who is really taking her seriously?

  23. Jessica says:

    People are on this kick of threatening people who snark on them with “private investigators”, they should clarify Reddit can’t just give out that information freely, a PI is likely looking back through their messages and figuring out who they are that way, or if links to other socials are posted.

    • waitwhat says:

      She should also know that everyone knows an IT dude/dudette that loves a little detective work. I’m sure she’d prefer that her MySpace days remain in the past.

  24. It’sjustblanche says:

    The ivf meds she used would make birth control seem like a picnic. Not sure I’m buying it.

  25. Hel says:

    I’m currently boycotting Reddit but I have to make an exception to visit the subreddit, they must have a field day with this interview !!
    My jaw literally dropped when I read the PI part, is she casually threatening them? And what even is this magazine?

  26. lucy2 says:

    I’m curious if she and Ireland have a relationship, or if she just sends her baby stuff.

    • Jayna says:

      I think she has a better relationship with Hilaria than Alec, truthfully.

      Ireland talking about Hilaria after Spanishgate;

      “This person has dug up old tweets from Hilaria’s high school peers, and they all say one thing about her, that she’s really kind, when they reflect back on their experience with her,” she said. “And that’s because she is very kind, she’s a good person. And she’s a caring person who’s always respected my relationship with my dad.”

      She continued, “I have a great relationship with her. And she could be a really malicious, terrible, horrible human who tears people down, but she isn’t. Hilaria is a wonderful mother who takes great care of her kids, and she takes great care of my dad. And that’s really all that matters to me.”

  27. Zazzoo says:

    The pill was a blessing 50 years ago. Name another form of technology that has barely improved in 50 years. But this woman is not a spokesperson for women’s choices because her choices are born of pathology not personal empowerment. We need better options but right now in the US we’re fighting just to have options.

  28. Delphine says:

    That baby looks like she’s already over it. The look on her face is priceless.

  29. Hotsauceinmybag says:

    Been a while since I have commented but this feels particularly relevant given my gynecologist visit yesterday…

    I don’t ship for Hilaria in anyway shape or form, and while I’m not a Reddit level hater/conspirator I do find her pretty strange, weird and irresponsible.

    That being said I understand her comments on the Pill. I (now 32) took the Pill in high school and it wreaked havoc on my. My breasts grew to be enormous, I had constant hot flashes, gained weight and was so uncomfortable. Cut to a few years later when switching to the IUD – it hasn’t been all roses and daisies but definitely my preferred method of BC for the best part of the last decade, even with chronic BV and yeast infections (which can be an indirect side effect of the IUD) as I was desperate to not be with child or have to use EC if it ever came down to it.

    Recently the BV and yeast infections have grown to be more annoying, so I was exploring other implant options such as the rod. Went to my gynecologist yesterday as I was due to swap out my current IUD for a new one. Asked her about the rod and side effects, which I had read could be significant weight gain. She said recommends the IUD over the rod as she sees lots of weight gain, bloating and heavy bleeding, though it’s 50/50 for most users and you don’t know until you have it implanted. And being that it’s implanted in the arm, it’s full body Progesterone as opposed to localized hormone delivery in the uterus like the IUD. I decline the option, decide to go with my trusted IUD instead, but lo and behold after two deeply painful and traumatizing attempts and ultrasounds my IUD just would not sit right. Apparently my uterus is far back and has scar tissue from the last 3 IUDs, making insertion nearly impossible without IV sedation, which was offered to me if I decide to go through with it. (After describing my experience to a friend, she says “that sounds awful, doctors troubleshooting in your uterus while you’re awake is unwell.”) My gynecologist now suggests exploring the rod, as I personally am opposed to the Pill given my experience with it.

    So while I find Hilaria to be fake and insufferable, I can identify with her issues with the Pill and I think her experience is somewhat universal in this regard. It’s disappointing but unsurprising that the burden of hormonal birth control is continuously laid at the feet of women with little regard for the short, medium and long term side effects, while men are, at minimum, blissfully unaware of what we go through.

    Fellow Celebitches, I’d love your advice or opinions on my personal situation. Thank you <3

    • B says:

      Her doctor can’t legally breathe a word of what options she declined and whether or not there is any legitimate medical rationale behind them.
      She has reported that the doctor has started trying to engage her partner in making a functional decision about birth control.

  30. Anne Keane says:

    Condoms are about 98% effective, and I presume wouldn’t make her feel ill. But hey, it’s her choice, I’m not that invested.