Editor’s Note: So your break from Beyonce pregnancy posts is over. Sorry to the non-fans but the Bey Stan in me has a few more things to share. (smile)
This week, not only did Beyonce Knowles Carter give us pregnancy twin news, but she also overwhelmed fans, followers, haters and the like with tons of maternity photos…present and past.
As many know, the multi-platinum selling mega star’s first pregnancy was dogged and plagued by rumors that it was fake and that she used a surrogate to bring her and husband Sean “Jay-Z” Carter’s daughter, Blue Ivy in to the world.
It all stemmed from an interview with an Australian television show in October 2011 where the folds of her dress as she went to sit down made it appear as if her bump had caved in. In actuality, as conspiracy sites have discussed incessantly, her belly, then at 24 weeks was below the dress. But it hasn’t stopped many from thinking Mrs. Carter never carried Blue at all.
From an Instagram share of a beach trip with her bump covered in sand, to a snippet of a video Jay took while they vacationed in Croatia and shared on Tumblr revealing a very early bump, to silhouettes shots and post birth images seen in her 2013 HBO documentary, “Life is But a Dream”, she has subtly given the doubters visual proof that she really was pregnant. But they are relentless. Even a paparazzi capture of her in a sheer blue caftan by the pool didn’t sway them.
She didn’t seem fazed by the rumors, telling Katie Couric in an interview before a performance at Roseland theater while still expecting, “You know there are certain things that are so far, it doesn’t even affect me…I am cool, it is so ridiculous and over the top.”
And in the HBO documentary, she addressed it again:
“A stupid rumor, the most ridiculous rumor I’ve ever had about me.To think that I would be that vain. I respect mothers and women so much. To be able to experience bringing a child into this world, if you’re lucky and fortunate enough to experience that, I would never ever take that for granted.”
Being private about her personal life may have been at the root.
She kept her relationship, courtship, marriage and pregnancy pretty private, but has opened a lot more since the documentary, to her very intimate and sensual “Beyonce” album, to the Lemonade album which many have hypothesized was autobiographical and about her marital struggles with Jay.
And now this time, she is being a lot more open about showing off her bump with not one, not two, but several nude and semi nude maternity portraits.
This week, her team also pushed out belly progression photos she took while pregnant with Blue, perhaps to head off new allegations and rumors before they start. Because her head is not in the photos, I’m not sure the suspicious will be convinced. They are certainly not stopping brand new allegations about this pregnancy either.
Oh well. The new photos are buzz-worthy, for sure.
The one that was released with the news is part of a session with famed Ethiopian-American photographer Awol Erizku, a Bronx, NY-raised graduate of Yale‘s Master of Fine Arts program. Not everyone could appreciate the eclectic purposefully gaudy look to the background and props (the car is part of a previous pop-up installation called “Ask the Dust“, PEOPLE reports), but it is signature to Erizku’s style. (by the looks of his other works) He says they are made up of the images that surrounding his upbringing in the Bronx.
Queen Bey accompanied the images from her photo album with the writings of another East Africa-born artist, Somali-British poet Warsan Shire. Her words, from a poem titled “I Have Three Hearts“, read:
“Mother is a cocoon where cells spark, limbs form, mother swells and stretches to protect her child, mother has one foot in this world and one foot in the next, mother, black venus.”
I agree with Quartz’ assessment, “that’s just how Beyoncé looks in these pictures, her pregnant body floating weightless amidst flowing fabric, her flower crowns undisturbed.
“Maternity photos will never be the same.”
Bustle mused: “Beyoncé’s latest photo album includes throwback shots of her pregnant with Blue Ivy followed by snapshots of her first daughter’s four years, all sticking with the rule of threes: She’s a family of three with Blue and Jay Z, and now she’s a three-hearted woman preparing for three children.”
Fitting! And now the photos: