Former EastEnders star Melissa Suffield has hit back at people who continue to ask when she is due as they assume she is still pregnant in her latest Instagram post on Thursday.
The actress, 31, who is dedicated to inspiring body positivity, looked sensational as she posed in a figure-hugging black dress in the video.
Turning to the side she stroked her stomach as she explained she often gets ask: ‘When’s it due?’
Hitting back at the question, she joked: ‘About 4 years ago mate,’ before adding ‘There’s no rush to ‘bounce back’. Tell the others’.
Melissa, who played Lucy Beale in the BBC soap of six years until 2010, welcomed her son River in March 2020, but explained she still faces pressures regarding her post partum figure.
EastEnders star Melissa Suffield, 31, has hit back at people who assume she is still pregnant as she pushed back against the pressure to ‘bounce back’ in body positivity clip on her Instagram on Thursday
Melissa, who played Lucy Beale in the BBC soap of six years until 2010, welcomed her son River in March 2020, but explained she still faces pressures regarding her post partum figure
Pushing back against the pressure to ‘bounce back’ the star insisted that there ‘is not a deadline or goal’ and described her stage as the ‘Fifth Trimester’.
She captioned the clip: ‘If I had a penny for every time I’ve been asked this.
‘This is your reminder that postpartum is forever, and there is no time limit. There is no race to get your ‘body back’.
‘Whether you do or you don’t, you’re just as worthy either way. You haven’t failed if your body looks like it had a baby in it at one point (guess what? It did!).
‘The Fourth Trimester is not a deadline or a goal. Welcome to the Fifth Trimester, you.
‘Who else is still rocking a Fifth Trimester body? Tell me your story in the comments!’
Heading to the comments, Melissa’s story resonated with fans as they shared their own experiences.
One wrote: ‘I’ve had six babies and get asked if I’m pregnant again a lot. My boys call my belly their baby house and one asked me if the marks were their drawings which I thought was beautiful. Plus I can rest stuff on it so really I just have a built in shelf.’
Turning to the side she stroked her stomach as she explained she often gets ask: ‘When’s it due?’
Pushing back against the pressure to ‘bounce back’ the star insisted that there ‘is not a deadline or goal’ and described her stage as the ‘Fifth Trimester’
Heading to the comments, Melissa’s story resonated with fans as they shared their own experiences
A second penned: ‘I am 5 months pp and the amount of people who have said ‘oh you’re a bigger size are you’ or ‘lost the baby weight yet’ or a favourite – ‘I didn’t get stretch marks; have you tried cream’ really bothers me because I really don’t like how I look’.
A third shared: ‘I would like to know when people will learn to just not comment on other peoples bodies’.
Melissa played Ian Beale’s daughter Lucy in EastEnders for six years, but was axed from the BBC soap in 2010.
She was replaced by Hetti Bywater in 2012, and the character was killed off in 2015.
Melissa gave birth to her son River in March 2020 and has since devoted her Instagram page to encouraging women to celebrate their bodies and help them feel confident.