Kate Middleton 'absolutely' has mom guilt: 'Anyone who doesn’t as a mother is actually lying'
Kate Middleton struggles with mom guilt “all the time,” insisting that mothers who deny it are “actually lying.”
The Duchess of Cambridge sat down for a Saturday interview on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast with host Giovanna Fletcher to discuss childhood, her “hypnobirth” and public scrutiny after the births of son Prince George, 6, daughter Princess Charlotte, 4, and son Prince Louis, who turns 2-years-old in April, children she shares with Prince William.
“Do you struggle with mum guilt?” asked Fletcher.
“Yes absolutely – and anyone who doesn’t as a mother is actually lying!” answered Middleton. “Yep – all the time, yep – and you know even this morning, coming to the nursery visit here – George and Charlotte were like ‘Mummy how could you possibly not be dropping us off at school this morning?’”
Middleton added, “But no it’s a constant challenge – you hear it time and time again from mums, even mums who aren’t necessarily working and aren’t pulled in the directions of having to juggle work life and family life, they don’t feel they’ve got —”
“There’s always something to feel guilty over,” said Fletcher.
“Exactly!” said Middleton. “And always sort of questioning your own decisions and your own judgements and things like that, and I think that starts from the moment you have a baby!”
The mother-of-three admitted that she “definitely would have done things differently” in pregnancy. “Because you know — the science — and I found that fascinating to see the wellbeing of the mother – not just physically, you know there’s so much information about making sure you exercise and making sure you have a healthy diet and things like that, which yes is definitely important,” she said. “But the emotional wellbeing of the mother directly impacts the baby that you’re growing...” But by the time she became pregnant with Louis, Middleton felt more informed.
The royal also shared how intimidated she was by the media attention following the birth of Prince George. Hours after the delivery, Middleton and William presented their son outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in London. The madness, she said, was “slightly terrifying.”
“Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and, you know, we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important,” Middleton told Fletcher. “But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents, and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions.”
In the interview, Middleton also praised William for installing the carseat before the couple headed home, despite criticism that George was incorrectly secured in the carrier.
William was worried about getting it right, says Middleton. “...We were like ‘What do we do?... in a swaddle?’ ‘How’s this supposed to work?!’ We’d even tried to practice with a little baby, like a little doll, at home but you know it just never works out the way you planned it so it was quite hard to do that on the world’s stage, but no, he did a very good job.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Entertainment & Lifestyle's newsletter.
