Adele Stopped Her Concert to Address Breastfeeding Shaming
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Adele confronted a popular misconception about breastfeeding during a concert in London last week, causing many to believe she was responding to British chef Jamie Oliver's recent remark that nursing is "easy."
The London native and singer, who has a 3-year-old son named Angelo, said during a Q and A at her show that there is a lot of pressure on mothers to breastfeed perfectly even though many moms face challenges during the process, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"The pressure on [breastfeeding mommies] is fucking ridiculous," she said. "All those people who put pressure on us, you can go fuck yourselves, all right? Because it's hard. Some of us can't do it. I managed about nine weeks with [my] boobs."
She went on to describe her own personal struggles with breastfeeding as well, revealing that her child would have died had they lived in a time before there was an abundant supply of baby formula. When fans chuckled at that remark, she said it was no laughing matter.
"All I wanted to do was breastfeed my kid and then I felt like, ‘if I was in the jungle right now back in the day, my kid would be dead because my milk’s gone,'" she said. "It's not funny!"
Several news outlets reported that Adele seemed to be responding to recent remarks by fellow British celebrity and father of four Jamie Oliver, who said during a radio interview earlier this month that Britain should become a better place for breastfeeding moms, as breastfeeding is "easy" for them to do.
“We need to support the women of Britain to breastfeed more, anywhere they want to,” Oliver, who recently lobbied for a sugar tax, told LBC Radio. “We have got a problem with it. And if you think about it, breastfeeding is the beginning of the story - before school dinners, before sugar. It’s something that’s very natural to us - it’s easy, it’s more convenient, it’s more nutritious, it’s better, it’s free.”
Jamie Oliver Twitter - twitter.com
He also criticized the formula industry and Britain's greater issue with breastfeeding. A recent poll conducted by Start4Life found that more than one third of mothers in England avoid breastfeeding in public, which could be due to the fact that mothers are often shamed for nursing outside their homes.
"Data from breastfeeding tracks into all sorts of things from stunting, to obesity, to ill-health. We have the worst breastfeeding in the world," he continued. "The formula industry has a history of doing things in not such agreeable ways.”
Though Oliver seemed to be making an argument in favor of breastfeeding moms, his offhand remark that nursing is "easy" struck a sour note.
After his remarks enraged many on social media, he clarified on Twitter that he never meant to disparage mothers who struggle with breastfeeding:
"I understand that breastfeeding is often not easy and in some cases not even possible but just wanted to support women who DO want to breastfeed and make it easier for them to do so," he wrote.
