Beyonce opens up about emergency C-section and learning to love her body

Rapper Jay Z and singer Beyonce with daughter Blue Ivy Carter onstage during the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Photo / Getty

Superstar Beyonce has revealed she had an emergency caesarean section when she delivered her twins.

The singer, in a series of personal essays in September's US Vogue magazine, says she was close to 100kg and was swollen from toxaemia and "had been on bed rest for over a month" when her twins, Rumi and Sir Carter were born.

Jay Z and Beyonce pose during The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty

The 36-year-old says they spent many weeks in intensive care and her husband, Jay Z, was "such a strong support system."

"After the C-section, my core felt different. It had been major surgery. Some of your organs are shifted temporarily, and in rare cases, removed temporarily during delivery. I am not sure everyone understands that. I needed time to heal, to recover," Beyonce said.
"During my recovery, I gave myself self-love and self-care, and I embraced being curvier. I accepted what my body wanted to be. After six months, I started preparing for Coachella. I became vegan temporarily, gave up coffee, alcohol, and all fruit drinks. But I was patient with myself and enjoyed my fuller curves. My kids and husband did, too."
The star also described how she put pressure on herself to lose weight in the three months after the birth of her first child. But after the twins, she approached things differently.

Beyonce says she has a "little mommy pouch" and she's in no rush to get rid of it.

"To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I'm in no rush to get rid of it. I think it's real.

"Whenever I'm ready to get a six-pack, I will go into beast zone and work my ass off until I have it. But right now, my little FUPA and I feel like we are meant to be."

The singer also spoke about how she wants her children, six-year-old Blue Ivy and one-year-old twins Rumi and Sir Carter, to be: "It's important to me that they [my daughters] see themselves as CEOs, as bosses, and that they know they can write the script for their own lives — that they can speak their minds and they have no ceiling," she said.

"They don't have to be a certain type or fit into a specific category. They don't have to be politically correct, as long as they're authentic, respectful, compassionate, and empathetic.

Beyonce arrives at the The 28th Annual MTV Video Music Awards. Photo / Getty

"They can explore any religion, fall in love with any race, and love who they want to love. I want the same things for my son. I want him to know that he can be strong and brave but that he can also be sensitive and kind. I want my son to have a high emotional IQ where he is free to be caring, truthful, and honest. It's everything a woman wants in a man, and yet we don't teach it to our boys."

In a surprising move, Vogue editor Anna Wintour handed over the reins to Beyonce, giving the star total creative control. As such, the singer, who has said it is important for her to help open doors for younger artists, chose 23-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell to shoot the cover, the first Vogue cover to be shot by an African-American photographer.