Blake Lively Said She Felt at Her Most Confident in Her Body After Having Kids

It put everything in perspective.

Blake Lively Ryan Reynolds Met Gala 2022
(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

We sometimes forget—looking at celebs' glorious red-carpet looks—that famous people have insecurities too. And yes, that includes award-winning actress and fashion icon Blake Lively.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Lively admitted how much having kids put things into perspective for her, and imbued her with more confidence than she'd ever had. Before she had her first child, she told the outlet she was growing frustrated with her acting work, feeling like she didn't have enough of a say in what the final product looked like.

"Once I had children, that just became even more profound because my time was even more precious," she said (via Harper's Bazaar). "But also I think having children for me made me feel so much more in my skin. I never felt more myself or at ease in my own body or more confident—not to say that there aren't a bevy of insecurities coming at me a million times a day, but I just feel incredibly settled."

Her children helped her realize how much she wanted to prioritize projects she believes in. "I just think that growing up, having kids, all of those things made me feel like I only want to do things where I can have really meaningful collaborations and have authorship," she added. "When I say authorship, I'm not trying to be like the sole leader or genius. There's nothing worse to me than that and I also don't really believe in that. I believe in really valuable collaborations and that's where I'm getting my fulfilment these days and I've never been happier, professionally."

Lively shares daughters James, 7, Inez, 5, and Betty, 2, with her husband of 10 years, Ryan Reynolds.

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Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.

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