If daily Facebook updates about a friend's pregnancy or Instagram pictures of cringey gender reveal parties (there's only two it could be Jennifer, you don't need a party) has you wanting to throw your phone at the nearest wall, look no further than Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Last week, in an interview with the Financial Times, the renowned Nigerian author and feminist dropped in the fact she'd recently just given birth to a baby girl and kept the news under wraps because, well why not?
While drinking a mocktail, the We Should All Be Feminists author told the interviewer: 'I would probably have a glass of wine, but I'm breastfeeding.'
Much to the interviewer's shock, the author (whose famous 2013 TEDx Talk was sampled in Beyoncé's song Flawless) explained she'd consciously kept the news of her pregnancy on the down-low to avoid the performative aspect of pregnancy often assigned to women.
'I have some friends who probably don't know I was pregnant or that I had a baby.
'I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy. We don't expect fathers to perform fatherhood,' she said.
The novelist then climbed one step further on the 'smooth operator' ladder when she shut down the reporter's question as to the baby's name.
'No, I won't say,' she replied with what was described as a 'disarming smile'.
In a world where women's post-pregnancy bodies and parenting skills are scrutinized, this refreshing take on motherhood and privacy is exactly what we need.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
