‘The best I’ve ever felt about my body was when I was pregnant,’ says 39-year-old TV presenter and best-selling author Laura Whitmore. ‘I think it’s the best I’ve ever looked and weirdly the most confident, maybe because I knew what my body was doing was pretty incredible. What I found difficult was the chatter around my body, people congratulating me on looking well but saying that the fact I was still dressing up to film was not how I should be behaving… as though I should be at home hiding away.’
Laura gave birth to her daughter in 2021, the same time she was presenting Love Island alongside her narrator husband Iain Stirling, whom she married in 2020. Like any woman in the public eye, she’s often subject to relentless unwarranted commentary – but the combination of Love Island fame and becoming a mother often make for a particularly intense discourse.
At a time in your life when your body is going through immense changes, when your overwhelmed by the immense responsibility of taking care of a new life and all the while trying to adjust to your ‘new normal’, it can’t be easy to take on the weight of other opinions.
‘I think body image is very personal and people need to stop having an opinion of how other people look,’ Laura tells Grazia. ‘I was told I “snapped back too quickly” whatever that means. I never weighed myself or made a conscious decision to look a certain way, my priority was to feed my baby and try and sleep whenever I could. My god there is no such thing as too much sleep!’
In fact, your relationship with your body postpartum feels entirely different, Laura explains. ‘I think you spend the whole pregnancy counting down until you give birth, you kind of forget the big job is what comes after,’ she says. ‘I chose to breastfeed exclusively; everything was about my baby - I didn’t really think about my body as something for me so when I did get it back, I made a conscious decision to be as kind to it then as I was when I was pregnant. But I didn’t notice when I stopped feeding, I wasn’t looking after myself, drinking water or eating the way I did when I was expecting/feeding. You almost forget about yourself as your body is not the priority.’
In making her body feel like her own again then, Laura turned to Europe’s number one medical spa, Thérapie Clinic. The clinic offers treatments like Emsculpt, loved by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Megan Fox, which uses electromagnetic energy to cause muscles to contract to simulate an intense workout. Laura's favourite treatment there though? Their new offering, which combines Emsculpt with pelvic floor tightening through their EMSELLA chair.
‘I’m totally up for trying new things,’ she says. ‘So, when Thérapie Clinic approached me with their new Core to Floor treatment that could easily fit into my schedule, it was a no brainer. The Core to Floor treatment is a combination of the EMSELLA chair which works to tighten the pelvic floor and EMSCULPT a treatment that tones your core. Both treatments are non-invasive, pain free and you can have them fully clothed.
‘You also can’t use your phone during the treatments, so it’s been so nice to actually take a break from it for once to read a good book – talk about self-care,’ Laura continues. ‘From my very first session I felt stronger than ever. Therapies' Core to Floor treatment leaves you tightened and toned, and an added benefit is it's also great for sexual health! I really can't recommend this enough to new mums.’
She loves Pilates though too. ‘Pilates has been really important in finding my core strength and Core to Floor really compliments it,’ she says. ‘I feel much stronger in my sessions. Pelvic Floor health is so crucial pre- or post-natal. Actually, babies aside it’s important for everyone’s sexual health - I wish I knew about the treatment before.’
Ultimately though, she wants women to understand that your relationship with your body postpartum is more about how you feel inside. ‘There is no right or wrong and it’s not about how you look,’ Laura explains. ‘It’s about how you feel and finding things that work for you and your lifestyle. Core to floor is about strength and for me to be able to juggle work, feeling myself again and motherhood - I want to feel strong and powerful… I also think it’s important not to compare yourself - easier said than done I know!’