Sameera Reddy says she weighed 105 kgs after son Hans was born: ‘Patches of hair fell out of my head’

Sameera Reddy talked about her struggle with postpartum depression and weight after son Hans was born. By the time she became pregnant with daughter Nyra, she had learned to love herself.

Sameera Reddy opened up about her struggle with postpartum depression after the birth of her son Hans. She said that she initially thought that she would be ‘one of those page 3 moms posing away for the shutterbugs with a perfect bump’, as her idea of motherhood was influenced by Bollywood, but ended up weighing 105 kgs at the time of her delivery.

Sameera Reddy and Akshai Varde have two children - Hans and Nyra.

In an interaction with Humans of Bombay, Sameera said that her husband Akshai Varde took care of their baby, from changing diapers to feeding him, while she struggled with her emotions. “My mom-in-law said, ‘Your baby is healthy, you have a supportive husband, why are you upset?’ I had no answer. After I was discharged, I cried; I also felt guilty for not being there for Hans. This continued for a year – I’d break down often. I was completely cut off from the film industry. I still weighed 105 kgs & was diagnosed with Alopecia areata; patches of hair fell out of my head,” she said.

Realising that this was a ‘deeper problem’, Sameera consulted a doctor and addressed all her issues, from being an overweight child to being a part of an industry that constantly puts one under the scanner. She came out feeling like a ‘new person’.

“So, after 2 years of disappearing from everywhere, I joined social media. Even then, I’d be asked, ‘Are you going to be a yummy mummy or will you be ‘Sexy Sam’ again?’ But I refused to live a lie just to get followers! So I started talking about my problems – at first, I was trolled for not looking ‘perfect’ but it didn’t bother me. And in 2018, when I was pregnant with Nyra, I told myself, ‘I’m going to do this my way,’” she said.

During her second pregnancy with daughter Nyra, Sameera was ‘40, scared and bloated’ but she wanted to do all those things that she lost the opportunity to the first time around. She was honest about experiencing mood swings and did an underwater bikini shoot when she was eight months pregnant. She said that women reached out to her saying that she was an inspiration for them.

While Sameera would earlier get bothered by the ‘slighest budge under (her) underarms’, she has now learned to love herself even while being ‘chubby’. She often shares posts about self-love and acceptance with the hashtag #ImperfectlyPerfect.

Sameera, Akshai and their children, Hans and Nyra, tested positive for Covid-19 last month. However, they have since recovered.