Rachel McAdams didn’t talk publicly about her pregnancy or her birth story. There are some things this working mama wants to keep to herself, but the fact that she needs to pump at work isn’t one of them.

McAdams was recently doing a photo shoot with photographer Claire Rothstein of Girls Girls Girls magazine when she needed to take a pump break. Wearing Versace and a neck full of diamonds McAdmans did what mamas all over the world do every day, and Rothstein snapped a pic that is now going viral. In an Instagram post, Rothstein explains that she and McAdams had a “mutual appreciation disagreement about who’s idea it was to take this picture,” but the photographer says she remembers it being McAdams’ idea, “which makes me love her even more.”
In her caption of the amazing photograph, Rothstein writes: “Breastfeeding is the most normal thing in the world and I can’t for the life of me imagine why or how it is ever frowned upon or scared of.” The photographer added that she wanted to put the image out there to change perceptions about breastfeeding, pumping, and working motherhood. McAdams’ decision to normalize pumping through this glamorous image is especially cool when you consider that she’s not really a social media person, and spends a lot of days in much less glam attire. She recently arrived for her first interview since welcoming her son in the spring wearing a grey shirt, baggy pants and sneakers, reportedly telling the interviewer (Helena de Bertodano for The Sunday Times U.K .) , “I don’t even know what I’m wearing today. The shoes are held together with glue. Isn’t that sad? I need to get a life.” “I have clothes on and that’s a good thing,” McAdams told Bertodano during that chat. Her attire for that newspaper interview was a world away from the clothes she wore for the Girls Girls Girls shoot.
During her Sunday Times interview McAdams declined to discuss her son’s name or birthdate. “I want to keep his life private, even if mine isn’t,” she explained. “But I’m having more fun being a mum than I’ve ever had. Everything about it is interesting and exciting and inspiring to me. Even the tough days — there’s something delightful about them.” Most of us will never look the way McAdams does in this photo while we’re pumping, but we can totally understand that sometimes motherhood means you’re wearing sweats and sometimes it means you’re pumping in your work clothes (even if for most of us, that doesn’t mean Versace). McAdams may be keeping some parts of her motherhood experience private, but by showing the world this part of her day, she’s normalizing something that desperately needs normalizing. Some mamas pump, and the world needs to know (and accommodate) that.

[Update, December 19, 2018]

A lot of mamas have been wondering what pump McAdams used during her photo shoot. It looks like she used a Spectra pump and the Brauxiliary Band bra attachment. We’ve got the info on the different Spectra designs and McAdam’s bra band (and all are mom-invented products):

Spectra S1

This closed system, rechargeable and portable pump is highly rated by mamas because it is quiet, and offers customizable suction settings.
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