Ellie Goulding is opening up about her post-baby body.
In a new interview with the “Reign With Josh Smith” podcast, the “Love Me Like You” singer, 34, chatted about returning to music just weeks after welcoming son Arthur. Goulding and her husband Caspar Jopling welcomed their little one in May.
On how motherhood changed her perspective on her body, Goulding explained, “I just had a flashback to maybe two or three weeks after I gave birth. I was walking around in this comfy T-shirt and some leggings, I was doing yoga or some postnatal thing and my belly was just like hanging out and I just didn’t care. I’ve never cared less about my body being exposed.”
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She added, “And Caspar walks in, I think we had a builder at the time and I didn’t care. I just didn’t think, ‘I need to cover up.’ And it didn’t seem like anyone cared either.”
And Goulding has found a new appreciation for her body.
“You just had a child, and also this comfortability in knowing that I’m not my normal self and not feeling an urge to lose weight, not feeling an urge to look, in inverted commas, ‘How I used to look,'” she said. “It’s like you do appreciate your body just a little bit more because you realize that it’s done something pretty cool.”
The “Still Falling For You” songstress also explained why she returned to work three weeks after giving birth.
“There’s one thing that I’ve definitely noticed and observed, which is that I get asked a lot like, ‘Oh, you’re already working. Wow. Wowzer!'” she said. “Caspar, hasn’t been asked that once, not once has he been asked like, ‘Oh are you sure you want to go back to work?’ Whereas I’ve had it a lot… We can multitask and we can work. And you know, it is a challenge. And I also really, really, really, really respect women who just want to be a Mum because it is a full-time job. There’s the emotional side. There’s the physical side.”
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She continued, “I went back to work three weeks after I gave birth and yeah, it was a bit sore and I was a bit all over the place, but I wrote so many good songs. So I’m really, I’m really glad that I did. And I think we should all be allowed to make our own decisions.”
Goulding later addressed her past exercise addiction, “I would do a hit session until my heart rate was up at like 190 so that I felt really alive and crazy. And I had that for a few years to the point where even if I’d been to an event or a gig or something where I’d had a few drinks, I would still go home and make sure that I went on the treadmill, even if I walked on the treadmill and I thought that was normal. I was like, ‘I’ve just got to do some exercise.'”
“Then it was only when I looked back on it – you only know when you’re in a bad place when you’re in a good place again – and actually that was a bit weird and not that healthy,” she added. “The past few years have all been about understanding that I can wake up and not have to go for a run. I can wake up and just do a stretch or just have breakfast or just sit there and read a book or read the news. I no longer feel the need to do something extreme every day, which I think was born from chasing constant highs of being on tour.”