Blake Lively’s proud motherhood hasn’t transformed her

Although Blake Lively and her hunky husband Ryan Reynolds together are a double-dose of celebrity draw, they’re making an effort to give their children some privacy.

“My husband and I chose a profession and a side effect of that is your personal life is public,” the actress, who is currently pregnant with their second child, recently told Marie Claire UK.

Speaking of their firstborn daughter James, Blake noted she “hasn’t had the opportunity to choose whether or not she wants her personal life to be public or not. So in order to give her as much normality as possible, we want her to have a childhood like we had. So we can’t really throw her into the lion’s den that is LA, not that we really want to.”

And though the fame aspect can be tricky, Blake Lively has taken easily to motherhood. Just don’t ask how becoming a mom has changed her.

She explained: “When women become mothers, it’s all: ‘How’s your style?’, ‘Do you dress differently?’, ‘Do you go to Mommy & Me classes?’ I wanted to go to a Mommy & Me class before I was a mom. People really expect that you’re suddenly a different woman, and I think it strips a woman’s identity in a way that is kind of strange, because I’ve always been innately maternal my whole life.”

It’s quite nice to hear how Blake still feels like herself, but what about those of us who haven’t always felt a maternal instinct?

I don’t think I even really know Mommy & Me classes existed before I had kids, and I most certainly never would have attended one if given the chance. As someone who is proud to be a mom but didn’t have the desire all along, motherhood rocked my world. I had to change, and in that transition my identity grew murky. Moving to a new area meant finding new friends, not working for the first time in years meant trying to find new ways to pass the day, etc. All the things I did before were gone, which made me feel like the me I had known all along was gone.

It’d be great if all of us felt like Blake, that we were able to roll right along as we went from being kid-free to moms, but I suspect there are many out there who can’t quite relate to her experience.

Did becoming a mom change you? How do you feel about that?

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Photos: PR Photos, Matt Baron/BEImages

A look at Blake Lively’s gorgeous maternity style: