Several months ago, it was Vanessa Hudgens’ turn to be the female star of child-bearing age to face pregnancy speculation. Vanessa and Cole Tucker got married back in early December in Mexico. Before the wedding, Vanessa’s friends threw her a bachelorette party in Aspen. After the weekend was over, she put together an Instagram post with shots of her wearing baggy clothing, an oversized sweatshirt and long coats. You know, because they were in Aspen. In late October. In one of the shots in which she’s wearing a more tight-fit outfit with a long white coat, fans went into overdrive, trying to analyze whether or not she had a baby bump. They did this despite there also being a video clip of her popping champagne. This week, Vanessa appeared on Emily Tisch Sussman’s “She Pivots” podcast. During her interview, she talked a little bit about those “rude” rumors and how they made her feel.
“I’m sorry, I don’t wear Spanx every day, and am a real woman and have a real body,” she leveled. “I’m literally celebrating one of the happiest times of my life, and you guys are just gonna make me feel fat. That’s great. Thanks.”
Hudgens went on to reference “the four agreements” women should abide by.
“One of them is don’t make assumptions…in all aspects of life, but especially over other women’s bodies,” she said. “We deal with so much with other people trying to control our bodies, not let’s not make assumptions over other women’s bodies as well.”
The Disney Channel alum spoke out about the commentary on her body at the time it was happening.
“Not pregnant so y’all can stop,” she stated in the comment section of her Instagram post.
Vanessa is completely right about this. It’s time to stop making assumptions about women’s bodies because you don’t know what they’re going through and no one, even celebrities, is immune from bloat, swelling, cellulite, etc. al. It must be so stressful thinking you have to wear Spanx out in public every day just to maintain a certain body image. Kudos to Vanessa for speaking out about how those comments make people feel.
I think most of us will agree that in 2024, the celebrity “bump watch” is weird and outdated. Sure, sometimes a lower-list celeb craves some tabloid attention and does a “hand on the belly” pose to purposefully generate speculation. But overall, making an assumption based on what a woman’s body looks like can make her feel bad (like Vanessa) or put her in an uncomfortable situation (see: Mariah Carey’s appearance on Ellen, which is still one of the grossest things I’ve ever seen on TV). There’s plenty of bad behavior and unfortunate outfits out there that we can gossip and talk sh-t about.
Photos credit: Barbara Hine/Future Image/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram
It is SO INSANE that the majority of this bullshit comes from women too. Like… do you not also have a body? Is it from a total lack of biological and physiological understanding or just classic objectifying women?
Who caresssssss if ANYONE other than yourself is pregnant at any time, other than when they choose to share it?! What is the obsession?!!
Vanessa is clearly classier than me on this topic. Hope she’s well and not too affected by this awfulness.
No one in real life would like some stranger to ask them if they are pregnant. It is one of the rudest things.
A family friend (WOMAN) came up to me at my mother‘S MEMORIAL and, insisted of a hug & condolences, asked if I was expecting. (I was wearing a babydoll shirt, and was thin, mind you).
PSA: My mom died suddenly and young of Inflammatory breast cancer (if not familiar, look up “IBC symptoms.” There is no lump).
@B, OMG, that is horrible. In my country, people generally say if you don’t see a baby coming out of a woman, don’t assume / ask if she is pregnant. And that’s an advice for strangers, not someone you know on your mother’s memorial. That is beyond rude, it must be a mental illness or something.
You never know what pain a person might be going through privately. We had friends who had trouble getting pregnant. But no one knew until after the baby was born. All the while rude people, mostly family!, were constantly asking, is she pregnant, when were they having a baby. So they didn’t tell anyone of their struggles was because of the constant questions.
Especially before OB does the first check and establishes that yes the heart rate is right and everything checks out. It’s really painful to announce you’re pregnant (with a wanted baby) and then have people excitedly asking how it’s going after you just miscarried.
Wouldn’t wish that on any one.
It really is better to just shush for a moment.
Okay wait. On her honeymoon pics, there’s a pic of her with a little bit of a stomach I guess, she posted she was sick when she went MIA on her ig, she’s literally glowing, her boobs look bigger and she hasn’t been posting body shots which she always does and I would too if I looked like her, someone said she had “nose spread” which is a pregnancy thing, so I feel like she might actually be pregnant? Last time I heard she complained about pregnancy rumors was in like October…idk I feel like she is and if so congrats and she might want to keep that private which is her call. If she’s not, then she’s not and whoever thought so made a mistake 🤷🏼♀️ she doesn’t look “fat” at all and I don’t think that’s why people are saying she’s pregnant, I think it’s just the other things that have come into factor.
Even if to you she might not look fat and all the comments are well meant, it’s still extremely rude for the reasons other people have already covered.
Just leave a woman alone.
I had it happen to me once that I ran into an old neighbour and they said “congratulations! When are you due?? I’m so excited for you” and let me tell you, I didn’t know how fast I could get away and it was not a good day.
I still don’t have children but for a long tiime I was perpetually with a glass of red wine in my hands at a social gathering to stop the obnoxious speculating women can’t seem to stop doing to each other. Nowadays everyone who knows me even the slightest bit will know that it ain’t gonna happen so I don’t care anymore. But the bloody pressure and rude inquisition needs to stop.
Just because you get married doesn’t mean you can , want to or will be knocked up within the next 12 months.
Well, I’m truly sorry that happened to you and that was very rude on that persons part. I feel like you can always TELL when someone is actually expecting. It’s not just they gain weight and or have a bigger stomach. For me, the belly has to be big for me to comment or I’ll wait for them to comment first and tell me. I don’t usually assume they are. In this case, I was right, as were all the others lol she IS pregnant and more than a few months along. Looks like she didn’t want to address it, which is her business but everyone was still right about it.