Katrina on post-partum weight: 'Its their choice, if they still view it through a harsh lens'

Katrina Kaif has spoken out against the scrutiny surrounding her postpartum appearance, months after social media users commented on her changing physique following childbirth. The actor, who made her first major public appearance in months alongside husband Vicky Kaushal at the Ambani family's annual Ganesh Chaturthi on September 14, became the subject of online comparisons after photographs from the event surfaced.Soon after the couple's appearance, social media was flooded with 'before and after' and 'then and now' collages comparing Katrina's pre-pregnancy pictures with her recent photographs. The comparisons drew criticism for placing unrealistic expectations on women to regain their pre-pregnancy bodies soon after giving birth. Several women also called out the body shaming directed at the actor and questioned society's obsession with women's appearances after motherhood.Katrina addressed the online commentary, speaking about the changes a woman's body undergoes after childbirth and the pressure to conform to societal expectations.She said in an interview with Vogue India, "We live in a world that wants to blow us around in the ever-changing winds of opinions. I think most people are aware of what a woman’s body goes through after giving birth. And if they still choose to view that body through a harsh lens, it’s a personal choice.

It can’t be blamed on a lack of information, because there is so much information out there. I just want to focus on this lovely part of my life and where I’m headed.

"The actor also challenged the widely used phrase 'bounce back', questioning why women are expected to return to their pre-pregnancy bodies as though childbirth were something to recover from.Katrina said, "Bounce back? From where? I have taken a step ahead to something that was a deep desire in my heart, so why would I want to go back? The first few days after I gave birth, it was an indescribable feeling to see Vihaan’s face and know that four years of a tumultuous journey for me and Vicky had led to this.

I am very aware of my fitness journey and where my body feels at its most energetic. I will reach there at my own pace.

"The interview further quoted Naomi Wolf, from her 1990 book The Beauty Myth where she said, “Whatever is deeply, essentially female—the life in a woman’s expression, the feel of her flesh, the shape of her breasts, the transformations after childbirth of her skin—is being reclassified as ugly, and ugliness as disease.”