STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

#PitterPatter: Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Quietly Had a Baby

Beyoncé’s favorite feminist wasn't here for “performing pregnancy.”

In a world obsessed with celebrity baby bumps, over-the-top baby showers and post-pregnancy snapbacks, it’s clear that Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie isn’t having any of that. See, Beyoncé’s favorite feminist admitted that she had a baby — and no one really knew. 

Adichie casually mentioned in a recent interview with the Financial Times that the reason that she was drinking a mocktail was because she was breastfeeding.

“This is just very sugary, very sweet,” the Americanah writer told the reporter. “I would probably have a glass of wine, but I’m breastfeeding, I’m happy to announce.”

Happy indeed.

So why did she keep her pregnancy under wraps? While she wasn’t hiding her bump or anything, Adichie stressed that she just didn’t want to participate in what she saw as the public spectacle of pregnancy.

"I have some friends who probably don’t know I was pregnant or that I had a baby. I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy. We don’t expect fathers to perform fatherhood," the author of We Should All Be Feminists said.

Clearly, motherhood agrees with her, but like Kerry Washington, she’s keeping a lot of her baby business to herself. While we know that she is married to Dr. Ivara Esegee, when the FT reporter asked about the baby’s name, she replied with a “no, I won’t say.” But Quartz reported that what is known is that Adichie had a baby girl.

In the end, it’s refreshing to see folks live their lives on their own terms — public or private. Congrats, Chimamanda!

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