Halsey announces her pregnancy, challenges stigma around motherhood

Seems like the Hollywood baby boom isn’t ending anytime soon! In a recent photoshoot posted to Instagram, singer Halsey sent the internet into a buzz after revealing that she’s expecting her first child.

Captioned with “surprise!" along with a baby and rainbow emojis, the photo set post shows the mother-to-be initially posing in a rainbow knit top and loose jeans — bright and glowing — while the other photos reveal her baby bump.

The father of her baby, boyfriend Alev Aydin, who is a screenwriter and producer, shared his elation commenting, “Heart so full, I love you, sweetness," underneath her post. Although Halsey and Aydin were first linked together in October 2020, evidence suggests that they've been friends for a while.

Back in early 2019, Aydin posted a picture of him and the singer at a Lakers game, thanking her for getting him front-row seats. The couple have been together for several months but have successfully kept their relationship under wraps, according to People Magazine. But, they might have hinted at their plans to start a family together when they got matching tattoos back in June 2020 of the word “seeds” in each other’s handwriting. Adorable, right?

This event is undeniably special for the “Graveyard” singer, as she has previously opened up about her struggles with her reproductive health over the last few years.

In 2015, the singer opened up to Rolling Stone about suffering a miscarriage just hours before a show, likely induced by the stress and burnout she endured from touring.

“That was the moment of my life where I thought to myself, ‘I don’t feel like a f**king human being anymore.’ This thing, this music, Halsey, whatever it is that I’m doing, took precedence and priority over every decision that I made regarding this entire situation from the moment I found out until the moment it went wrong,” she said.

She later noted that she wanted to be a mom more than a pop star.

The pop hitmaker has also been open about her recovery from endometriosis, a disorder in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing severe menstrual pain and complicating pregnancy.

In a 2017 interview with Teen Vogue, Halsey shared how she had surgery to treat this illness and how female reproductive issues are often dismissed or misdiagnosed. In fact, although the condition affects 1 out of every 10 women, endometriosis suffers from a great lack of research and attention in the medical field.

After her initial pregnancy announcement, Halsey later shared a photo of her endometriosis scars on an Instagram story and wrote, “the scars that got me this angel” with the hashtag #endowarrior. She also shared a sonogram depicting her baby's feet.

Like many women who suffer from the chronic illness, Halsey was troubled by the idea of never being able to have children. On her latest album “Manic," she dedicated the song “More” to the baby she lost in her miscarriage, singing, “When you decide it's your time to arrive / I've loved you for all of my life."

But despite her illnesses, the singer was able to prevail and become the mother she always wanted to be. She spoke to Rolling Stone in 2019 about discovering that motherhood was a possibility for her — thanks to a number of lifestyle changes — and the relief and joy that washed upon her. 

Although these battles aren’t necessarily at the forefront of Halsey's music or image, they serve as testament to her ability to be vulnerable and commit to addressing difficult and underrepresented topics.

In fact, the singer isn't a stranger at all to unfurling the complicated, painful and messy facets of her life on record or in her music — she’s also spoken about her bisexuality and battle with bipolar disorder. 

For many women in Hollywood, it’s common for their experiences to be dismissed and scrutinized — especially for women of color. Halsey's candor about her personal struggles is not only emblematic of her strength, but crucial for normalizing discussions of sensitive topics, both within and outside of Hollywood.

And this time, Halsey is not allowing her musicianship to bar her dreams of being a mother. Last Friday, the singer took to Twitter to set the record straight: “and just so we’re aware, if it wasn’t for (the coronavirus disease) COVID-19 I woulda done the tour pregnant,” she wrote.

Between challenging the stigma around mental illness and sexuality to transforming what it means to be an artist and mother, Halsey is truly both a musical and cultural icon, and I can’t wait for what this next chapter holds for her!