It seems Halsey’s pregnancy was met with mixed reactions—many of which were far from positive.
During a recent sit-down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, the 26-year-old singer opened up about some of the criticism they received while carrying their first child, Ender. Halsey explained they put a lot of thought into extending their family, and eventually became convinced it was the right time to do so.
“I’m 26, and I tried very hard for this pregnancy and it was like, I’m financially independent, I’m pretty far along in my career, it feels like the right time for me to do it. And I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times,” Halsey said. “Where people were like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re so young, and you have so much to do in your career, and you’re not married, and you’re this.’ “So fuck ’em,” they concluded. “I just was like, I’m going to do what I want to do. You know what I mean? I was like, this is important to me.”
Halsey said the negativity responses were triggering, and evoked feelings of shame they had experienced when they were younger.
“I was like, how can you have an opinion, that kind of opinion on me making this decision?” they continued.
Halsey and their boyfriend, Alev Aydin, welcomed Ender last month as they were preparing to release their fourth studio album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. The Grammy-nominated singer opened up about some of the difficulties they experienced while being pregnant during the project’s promotional run.
“We were going out and trying to set up magazine covers based around the album release, and they were like, ‘Yeah, but is she going to be pregnant? Because we don’t want to do a maternity cover,’” Halsey recalled. “And I was like, it’s not a maternity cover. It’s about my album. I just happen to be pregnant. And they’re like, ‘No, it’s a pregnant cover.’ And I was like, so I can’t go talk about my album?”
But despite all the judgement and criticism, Halsey insists they are in a good mental space and ready to take on parenthood.
“I feel super in the moment, super zen, super scared about all of it,” Halsey admitted. “About labor, about being a good mom, about protecting my child and doing the right things, and balancing everything. But I feel so full of gratitude at the same time.” “It’s a subject that has long caused me a tremendous amount of pain. And now I get to feel this way instead.”
