Paloma Faith has spoken candidly about her pregnancy in a moving social media post.
Taking to Instagram, the mum-of-one posted a beautiful photo of her growing baby bump and opened up about her recent performance on The Jonathan Ross show, telling fans she that wasn't as confident as she'd appeared.
Paloma, who is mum to a three-year-old daughter with partner Leyman Lahcine, announced her second pregnancy in September after undergoing six rounds of IVF.
Paloma wrote: "Pregnancy diary. After my Jonathan Ross performance this week I had to bury my head in the sand because so much of the way the world looks at women in the public eye is superficial. I couldn’t bear to read the comments."
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She added: "People said to me “you are so body positive and confident” but the truth is I’m not! I can’t not promote my album. I love my job and what I do but the truth is, like a lot of the pregnant women commenting who are doing this at the same time, I find it hard to know how to dress."
The singer continued: "I don’t do pregnancy in a neat way and I am an emotional wreck. It’s hard to go on tv and sing a song I love and wear a glittery catsuit (and have a cold sore due to being run down from overwork), but I just do it because I don’t feel the alternative is an option (e.g. hiding away and not doing what I love which would send me mad).
"So to all the women out there who are feeling insecure about their bodies (pregnant or not) because of the pressure we put on ourselves or that society puts on us, you are not alone and it’s ok not to feel ok. We are who we are."
We salute you, Paloma, for talking about the realities of body confidence in pregnancy – a post that many women will relate to.
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Paloma and her partner Leyman Lahcine
The star's followers agreed with us, with one writing: "Oh Paloma, I have never sympathised with a post more than this. I'm 27 weeks and all I want to do is sleep. You are so strong."
Another said: "You were absolutely gorgeous on Jonathan Ross last night ... absolutely gorgeous. Never truer words spoken!!!!"
One fan told her: "So needed to see this. It’s so hard feeling not in control of your body and made to feel like you’re not allowed to express how hard you find the changes! One day I absolutely love my changing my body and the next day I cry and feel so ugly it’s so bloody hard. Thank you for being so honest and sharing your journey you have no idea how much it helps."
