Chimamanda Adichie spoke about motherhood and how it affects women.
The Nigerian author spoke during an interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour.
She shared her personal experience as a mother and how motherhood affected her creativity.
She said: “Being a mother is a glorious gift, but it comes at a cost and I think it’s important to recognize that, right?
“There’s something we… and I’ll say ‘lost’.”
She added: “I felt like I probably could have written two novels if I hadn’t had my son. But I think having it also opened me up to this new, almost new phase of experience and awareness that I hope will fuel my fiction.
“Even before I had it, when I was pregnant, I felt like my brain was wrapped in gauze. So my brain didn’t work for a long time. And more creatively, I think I’m coming back because I’m finally working on a novel. But for a long time I couldn’t enter my fictional space.”
She also talks about being “horrified” by the parts of motherhood she wasn’t prepared for, including constipation, joint pain and more.
“I wasn’t prepared for so much, I really wasn’t.” she said.
Adichie spoke about the birth process and how women who give life are “reduced” to their “animal selves.” She also highlighted that women need to be prepared for these things, including knowing that in the process of expelling a baby, a woman may also defecate.
She said childbirth should be demystified and “the harsh reality” of it should be discussed so that people are aware that it is not like in the movies, where a woman is “perfectly fine” after giving birth to a baby.
She highlighted that in reality, many women are “sinking into a terrible depression” after giving birth.
Watch her speak in the video below.
Source: www.lindaikejisblog.com