Celebrities have been increasingly outspoken about their parenting journey, including celebrities who are breastfeeding.
World Breastfeeding Week is August 1-7, and it’s a week to raise awareness about breastfeeding.
From famous supermodels like Ashley Graham and Gisele Bündchen, to actors like Hilary Duff and Jessica Alba, to reality television superstars and influencers like Khloé Kardashian, plenty of celebrity parents have been candid about the trials, tribulations, joys and heartbreak of breastfeeding.
Supermodel Ashley Graham spoke in a 2023 interview on “The Daily Show” about how difficult it is to have so many people share their personal opinions about her breastfeeding decisions, despite her knowing that those opinions “shouldn’t make any mother feel bad about her own reality.”
“There’s also this whole thing with people telling you how to feed your child,” Graham, 35, told guest host Chelsea Handler at the time. “With my first kid, I was like, ‘I could only breastfeed. This is the right way.’”
“I had the twins, and I was like, ‘I’m not doing this. This is not working here. Like, both of you want both of these? This is a lot of work,’” Graham continued.
From deciding to breastfeed, to breastfeeding in public, to all the difficulties associated with breastfeeding and deciding when — and if — to stop, celebrities who breastfed are continuing to pull back the curtain and share how difficult and wonderful breastfeeding can be.
Here are what some famous parents have to say about breastfeeding:
Amy Schumer
Comedian Amy Schumer gave birth to her first child, son Gene, on May 5, 2019.
In a May, 2019 Instagram post to her over 13 million followers, Schumer shared a photograph of herself strapped to her breast pump.
“Guys what are we doing tonight?” Schumer captioned the post, tagging “Vanderpump Rules” alum Stassi Schroder, poking fun at the reality television star with her “outfit of the day.”
Shortly after, in December of the same year, Schumer opened up about her decision to stop breastfeeding after a month on the “Informed Pregnancy and Parenting” podcast.
“We had a lactation expert come over. He didn’t latch and I just didn’t feel that push to make that happen,” the comedian said at the time. “Then I pumped for like the first month. Then I was like, ‘Not for me’…. This is not for me and I didn’t want to do it.”
Schumer said that while she understands that some people “absolutely love” breastfeeding and that she is “happy for them,” the experience just kept “bumming me out.”
“Then once it occurred to me that I could stop. I was like, ‘I’m going to stop’…. And then every week what I did was just took away one session of the pumping,” Schumer added. “You matter, and it’s going to be better for your baby that you’re OK.”
Jessica Alba
Actor and entrepreneur Jessica Alba is the proud mom of three — Honor Marie Warren, 15, Haven Garner Warren, 11, and Hayes Alba Warren, 5.
The actor has been candid about work-life balance and the act of breastfeeding as a working mom.
In a February, 2018 Instagram post, Alba shared a breastfeeding selfie, showing the mom feeding her son while at work.
“Went into my @honest office today for a board meeting, although I’m still technically on mat leave. Not gonna lie, it’s impossible for me to completely unplug from work … and it felt nice being back -even though it was just a half day,” Alba captioned the post. “Baby boy came to visit/eat at lunch. Felt very productive today.”
Khloé Kardashian
Khloé Kardashian has two children — True Thompson, who was born in April 2018, and Tatum, who was born with help from a surrogate in 2022.
In a 2018 response to a fan on Twitter, Kardashian revealed why she decided to stop breastfeeding her daughter, True, who at the time was 7 months old.
“I tried breast-feeding for weeks and weeks!” Kardashian tweeted. “For me it was so painful but I also was not producing a lot of milk. So I had to pump every time she was napping. I guess due to my stress my milk was not coming in.”
In a follow-up, Kardashian tweeted that she “literally tried everything” in an attempt to continue breastfeeding.
“Doctors came to check, I met with the lactation specialist, I did power pumping, I drank the tea, ate the cookies, did special massages etc. it just wasn’t working for me,” she tweeted at the time. “Once True started (losing) weight (because) of it, I had to give her formula.”
Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams welcomed her son in 2018 and her daughter in 2020.
For a 2018 photo shoot with “Girls. Girls. Girls. Magazine,” McAdams made waves by posing while wearing a breast pump.
“A million reasons why I wanted to post this picture. Obviously #rachelmcadams looks incredible and was quite literally the dream to work with, but also this shoot was about 6 months post her giving birth to her son, so between shots she was expressing/pumping as still breastfeeding,” Claire Rothstein, the founder, editor and photographer of the magazine, posted to Instagram at the time.
“Breastfeeding is the most normal thing in the world and I can’t for the life of me imagine why or how it is ever frowned upon or scared of,” Rothstein continued in her Instagram caption. “I don’t even think it needs explaining but just wanted to put this out there, as if it even changes one person’s perception of something so natural, so normal, so amazing then that’s great.”
Hilary Duff
Actor Hilary Duff is the proud mom to Luca Cruz, 11, Banks Violet, 4, and Mae James, 2.
In May, 2019, Duff opened up about her decision to stop breastfeeding her daughter Banks after six months.
“My goal was to get my little girl to six months and then decide if I (and her of course) wanted to keep going,” the mom of two wrote on Instagram at the time. “Let me tell you. Pumping at work sucks. I had zero down time and am usually pumping in a hair and makeup trailer while four hands work to get me ready for the next scene with lots of other people around. Even if I had the luxury to be in my own room, it’s not even considered a ‘break’ because you have to sit upright for the milk to flow into the bottles!”
Gisele Bündchen
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is the proud mom of two, Benjamin Rein and Vivian Lake, as well as a proud stepmom of son Jack.
Back in 2013, the Victoria Secret model shared a photo on Instagram of her multi-tasking in all her mom-glory — while breastfeeding.
“What would I do without this beauty squad after the 15 hours flying and only 3 hours of sleep,” Bündchen captioned the post.
Tess Holliday
Supermodel Tess Holiday has two children — Bowie Juniper Holliday and Rylee Holliday.
In 2016, Holliday shared a photo of herself breastfeeding as her team prepared her for a shoot.
“@nickhollidayco captured this photo of me getting ready yesterday to shoot the next (installment) of my #mblmxtess @penningtons collection, and it reminded me of @gisele‘s iconic photo breastfeeding on set,” Holiday captioned the Instagram post.
“Working moms come in all shapes, sizes, colors (and) creeds,” she added.
