12 Celebs Who Got Real About Their Tough Pregnancies

Although reminiscing on these memories may be not-so-pleasant, these famous moms hope that they can help raise awareness about the experiences many women go through during pregnancy. But at the end of the day, all of these moms agree that having their children in their arms made the tough times completely worth it!

Read on to find out what these celebs had to say about pregnancy…

1. Kim Kardashian

Pregnancy wasn’t easy for Kim Kardashian, who dealt with complications like high blood pressure and placenta accreta, which occurs when the placenta grows into the uterine wall. It can not only make pregnancy uncomfortable but also a difficult labor. While she was pregnant with her second child, Saint, Kim shared that things hadn’t been easy.

“I’m gonna keep it real: For me, pregnancy is the worst experience of my life! LOL! I don’t enjoy one moment of it and I don’t understand people who enjoy it,” Kim wrote on her now defunct blog. “Maybe it’s the swelling, the backaches, or just the complete mind f--k of how your body expands and nothing fits. I just always feel like I’m not in my own skin. It’s hard to explain. I don’t feel sexy, either -- I feel insecure, and most of the time I just feel gross.”

After a complicated birth, Kim opted to use a surrogate for her two youngest children.

2. Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson is the proud mom of two children but she says the time she was pregnant was some of the “worst moments” of her life. Looking back, Kelly explained she didn’t just have morning sickness, she had “all day sickness” and needed IV treatments because of dehydration. She was even hospitalized at points and had to cancel concerts.

“It’s horrible. Nothing is beautiful, nothing is magical. Whatever, you're that person that gets that pregnancy, good for you. But I will remind my children every day of their lives what I [went through],” Kelly jokingly said on Jenny McCarthy’s SiriusXM Radio show.

3. Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl admits her pregnancy with her son Joshua Jr. was “pretty easy” but there was one part of her experience that she didn’t particularly enjoy. Katherine says she experienced frequent indigestion and while working on her film Doubt, she ended up burping all the time in front of her co-stars.

“The thing that really got me was the indigestion,” she shared with People. “You can ask my co-stars, I never stopped burping. And I felt terrible about it, but there was just nothing I could do -- I would be in the middle of saying something and I’d just start burping. It was awful. I felt like a frat boy.”

4. Jessie James Decker

Jessie James Decker has welcomed four children with her husband Eric Decker and she says that all of her pregnancies have been different. Looking back, she explained that there was a huge contrast between first and second pregnancies. The first time around, she says things got “brutal.”

“With my daughter, Vivianne, I had horrible morning sickness. I threw up every day, sometimes twice, for five months, which then made me insanely hungry,” Jessie told People. “I’d stuff my face to try not to feel nauseated, and I gained 55 lbs. On my 5’1″ frame, that was brutal! [The second] time has been much smoother. I sometimes even forget I’m pregnant except for all the moving around he’s doing in there!”

5. Beyoncé

During Beyoncé’s pregnancy with her twins, she developed preeclampsia, a life threatening condition that can cause high blood pressure and swelling. Towards the end of her pregnancy, she was put on bedrest. Then things took a more dangerous turn and she eventually had an emergency c-section

“I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir. I was swollen from toxemia and had been on bed rest for over a month. My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section,” Beyoncé wrote in a personal essay for Vogue.

6. Amy Schumer

When Amy Schumer was pregnant with her son Gene, she didn’t hold back about what it was really like for her. She shared that things were complicated by a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes severe nausea and vomiting. She was even forced to cancel scheduled appearances on more than one occasion. While Amy always shared that she was “very lucky” to be pregnant, she admitted it could be challenging.

“It’s been pretty tough,” she said during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. “I didn’t realize pregnancies could be such a bummer…I threw up a bunch of times on my way, but worth it, love you guys so much. I’m lucky though -- I have good health care and can get an IV.”

7. Khloé Kardashian

For Khloé Kardashian, the early days of her pregnancy with her daughter True were the most challenging. She explained that it was primarily difficult because she wasn’t feeling well but didn’t want to tell anyone she was pregnant just yet.

“At the beginning, the first trimester is the worst, and no one knows you’re pregnant yet, and you feel the most uncomfortable,” she said on The Ellen Show. “I think once people know you’re pregnant, you get all the excuses.”

8. Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen has always been incredibly candid about her pregnancy journeys, documenting her experience on social media. She’s experienced a myriad of pregnancy symptoms including intense headaches and high blood pressure. When she was pregnant in 2018, she jokingly shared that her baby was “sucking the life” out of her.

“Drinking my water, making me dry. Eating my food, making me hungry. Taking my health, making me sick. Why do we create these monsters they want us dead,” she joked on social media.

Unfortunately, when Chrissy was pregnant with her third child, she developed partial placenta abruption, which is a condition where the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus. This can block the baby’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. After a month of bedrest and complications, Chrissy sadly experienced a miscarriage.

9. Mariah Carey

After Mariah Carey welcomed her twins, she revealed that she had struggled during a “rough” pregnancy. She had developed both gestational diabetes and preeclampsia so she had to be put on bedrest for extended periods of time. She also ended up in the hospital on several occasions and at 35 weeks, she had an emergency c-section.

“I don’t think I understood the enormity and the magnitude of what it really does to your body,” Mariah shared on 20/20 in 2011. “It’s not just, oh you don’t look pretty and you have a bump, no…Carrying two babies, unless somebody’s been through it it’s difficult to understand what I went through because my pregnancy was very unique in terms of what happened to me.”

She continued, “I was afraid I wasn’t gonna be able to walk properly again. It was a huge strain. I would sit and then someone would need to help me up. I couldn’t go even to the loo by myself. I was just like, ‘What are we doing? We going to the hospital?’ No, I’m gonna stick it out. I’m gonna keep taking this medicine to keep these babies in…I wanted them to be born [full term].”

10. Cardi B

Cardi B says her first pregnancy was difficult because she had the added pressure of knowing her career was riding on the album she was working on at the time. Looking back, Cardi says that early in her pregnancy she worked as much as possible so that she could get music videos and promos recorded before her bump started showing.

“I did it all while I was pregnant. Throwing up, drowsy, terrible colds, and in a rush to finish it so I can start doing music videos before I started showing. I spend 24 hours for months sleeping on a couch with my pregnant depressed a-- in a studio,” she wrote on social media, adding, “All I can think about was ... everybody is disappointed in me, am I still going to have a career after this baby?”

11. Ellie Kemper

Ellie Kemper says her second pregnancy was much more difficult than her first. When she was expecting her second baby, Ellie explained that things had been tough and she had much worse morning sickness.

“The first trimester was awful. I have a 2-year-old now and when I was pregnant with him, I was fine. First trimester [this time], just terrible! Just tired and nauseous and all of it,” she said during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

12. Melissa Joan Hart

Melissa Joan Hart admits she wasn’t a big fan of being pregnant. She explained that since her mom had really enjoyed being pregnant, she thought it would be a fun experience for her too -- but that wasn’t the case. Looking back, she says she doesn’t understand how her mother went through pregnancy seven times and loved it.

“Oh god, I did not like being pregnant…I just hated it…I thought that would feel so feminine and beautiful and wonderful and I could eat whatever I wanted and I’d enjoy it,” Melissa told OK magazine. “It is so uncomfortable and you just feel so out of sorts. I don't know if it’s because my mom set me up to think it was going to be this most wonderful experience…It’s not for me. I mean, I love being a mom, but I don’t like being pregnant.”