Beyoncé’s new Netflix documentary Homecoming hit the streaming service today and gives us an honest look at how difficult her twin pregnancy was.

“My body went through more than I knew it could,” she says in the film, revealing that her pregnancy with Sir and Rumi was a shock right from the beginning, and the surprises kept coming.

In the film she reveals that her second pregnancy was unexpected, “And it ended up being twins which was even more of a surprise,” she explains.


Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé | Official Trailer | Netflix

The pregnancy was rough. Beyoncé developed preeclampsia, a condition that impacts about 5 to 8% of pregnancies and results in high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the mother’s urine. Preeclampsia poses risks to both the mother and the baby. People who are pregnant with multiples, like Beyoncé was, are more at risk to develop preeclampsia, and the only real cure for the condition is to give birth, which proved to be another medical challenge for Beyoncé.

“In the womb, one of my babies’ hearts paused a few times so I had to get an emergency C-section,” she shares in the film.

Thankfully, Beyoncé made it through her extremely difficult pregnancy, but the physical challenges didn’t end there. The road to rehabilitation for the performer was difficult because, as she explains, she was trying to learn new choreography while her body was repairing cut muscles and her mind just wanted to be home with her children.

“There were days that I thought I’d never be the same. I’d never be the same physically, my strength and endurance would never be the same,” Beyoncé recalls.

We know that becoming a mother changes us in so many ways, and in Homecoming, Beyoncé shows the world the strength that mothers possess, and rejects any ideas about “bouncing back.”

Becoming a mother is hard, but it is so worth it, and Beyoncé isn’t looking backward—she’s looking at a mother in the mirror and loving who and what she sees. “I just feel like I’m just a new woman in a new chapter of my life and I’m not even trying to be who I was,” Beyoncé said in the documentary. “It’s so beautiful that children do that to you.”

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