Katy Perry, who welcomed her first child, Daisy Dove, with fiancé Orlando Bloom in August 2020, wishes we were all a little more open about how rough things can be after giving birth—emotionally and physically.
“What I will tell you is, nobody talks about the first six weeks after you have the baby,” Perry said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed, grabbing the armrests of her chair and leaning back for dramatic effect. “That’s wild! What a roller coaster!”
Perry, 36, whose fifth album came out the day after her delivery, told Kimmel about what it was like to celebrate an album release on the first day of postpartum recovery. “I was giving birth to the greatest gift of all, for me, and then my album came out the next day. And I was in the hospital and I could not, uh, wipe my own butt,” she explained. “I was like, ‘This is the most unusual album release day for me, and I love it!’”
Pregnancy and delivery can take a serious toll on a person’s body—and, yes, can absolutely make it hard to wipe your own butt. That particular challenge is often thanks to painful tears to vaginal and perineal tissue that can limit movement for weeks (and may need stitches or surgery to heal), SELF reported previously. Beyond that, someone might experience vaginal soreness, dryness, discharge, hormonal changes, mood changes, depression, rage, difficulty peeing, sore breasts, hair loss, hemorrhoids, and cramps after a vaginal delivery.
After a C-section, which is a major surgical operation, someone might also experience pain as the incision heals, stinging or burning while peeing, cramping, and vaginal bleeding and discharge. And, of course, all of this is happening while you’re caring for a newborn baby. Being able to talk openly and honestly about what to expect during that time is crucial because it allows people to prepare as much as possible.
Perry, who was over 41 weeks pregnant when she gave birth, said she was grateful for her partner’s “great support” in the delivery room, as well as his parenting experience. (Bloom has a child with ex Miranda Kerr.) “I’ve got an incredible fiancé who’s done this before, he has a 10-year-old son,” Perry said. “So as much as I was a little bit like, you know, ‘I don’t need to hear all those stories,’ they actually helped…he’s been amazing and incredible.”
The new mom started filming American Idol season four just five weeks after giving birth. “I didn’t plan that. But it was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ It was so intense, you know?” she said during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan on Monday. “Giving birth, then going back to work and breastfeeding, like—holy crap! ‘This is what women do? Oh, my God!’”
Despite the reality that postpartum life is not all rainbows and sunshine, Perry says having a baby was “the best decision I ever made in my entire life.” She told Kimmel, “She’s the best. It’s the best. I mean, she changed something really important inside of me. And everything I do now, I think of her.”
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