Radhika Apte talks about her ‘shocking’ pregnancy, says she struggled to embrace how she looked: ‘Never seen myself put on so much weight’

Like many new moms, Radhika too had her doubts and didn’t like the way she looked. “I did this photo shoot a week before giving birth. Truth is, I struggled to embrace how I looked at the time. I had never seen myself put on so much weight. My body was swollen, I had shooting pains in my pelvis, and the lack of sleep had skewed my perspective on everything. Now, not even two weeks into motherhood, my body looks different again.”

The actress, however, has finally accepted the change in her body. “There are new challenges, new discoveries, and a different perspective has set in. I look at these photos with much kinder eyes and feel bad for being so hard on myself. Now, I can see only beauty in these changes, and I know I will cherish these photos forever.”

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Explaining why her pregnancy came as a shock to her, Radhika shared, “I think it’s easier when people know whether they want a child or not. In our case, neither of us wanted kids, but there was this one per cent curiosity about what it would be like. Then, when this happened, we wondered whether to even go ahead.”

Speaking about going through tough experiences, Radhika said, “Most women I know have had tough pregnancies, and honestly, it’s like menopause or your period—those hormones are no joke. But while we openly talk about how awful periods and menopause are, pregnancy gets this whole glow treatment. Sure, giving birth is amazing, but no one talks about the tough parts, and I find that absurd.”

Radhika plans to stay in London until February before moving back to India to resume work. Previously, speaking to Times of India, Radhika shared how people often ignore the hard part, attaching pregnancy to sacredness. She said, “Pregnancy is very hard, and bodies constantly go through very big changes.”

Calling her journey hard, Radhika shared that it was extremely hard to prepare herself psychologically and physically.

Speaking about her first trimester, Radhika revealed, she had terrible bloating, constipated, nausea, while she was also shooting at 40 degrees for three months straight. “I was having a meltdown all the time.” Radhika shared she wanted punch people who advised her to stay happy because she was having a child. “I am telling you that I am suffering, and you are telling me to be happy.”

Radhika recently shared a photo of her newborn on her Instagram. The actress is yet to reveal the gender of her child.