Megan Gale: ‘I had to promise to lose weight’

Megan Gale has revealed she once signed a modelling contract which stipulated she must return to her pre-baby shape within just six months of giving birth.

• Why Megan Gale decided to slow down

Megan Gale has revealed she once signed a modelling contract which stipulated she must return to her pre-baby shape within just six months of giving birth.

The Australian model has revealed she signed a contract for a former employer which outlined she must lose the baby weight she gained post arrival of her son River, who was born in May 2014.

Megan Gale signed a contract for a former employer which outlined she must lose the baby weight. Pic Alex Coppel.

When asked whether she felt pressure at the time to return to her pre-baby shape, the mother-of-two said while she didn’t put pressure on herself, her employer — whom she refused to name and shame — did.

“I did have a contract that was in play that stated that I had to be back to my pre-pregnancy shape,” Gale said in an interview on podcast Tales from the Fourth Trimester.

“I was allowed to have six months off. I could choose that six months.

“So I took those six months from that particular contract, I think I started at seven months, so I knew that once River was four months I had to be the same (weight).”

While Gale agreed to the terms, but later said she was not prepared to adhere to the contract terms had she failed to meet them.

“I wasn’t the same weight, but to me I kind of thought, “you know what? If you are going to tear up my contract because I am not … I will make sure everyone knows about it and we will see how that goes because I knew that would be absolutely frowned up on and I knew women everywhere would be in an uproar.”

Megan Gale promoting Australia's Next Top Model. Picture: Mark Stewart

Megan Gale arrives at the 58th Annual Logie Awards. Photo by Robert Cianflone

“I thought no, I am not going to and if you want to push me on it then I will make it public because I thought it was just ludicrous. I decided not to pick my battle at the time, but I thought if … people say, “Why aren’t you with such and such client anymore? I would say well because they sacked me because of this.”

One agent, who wished to remain anonymous, said the “pregnancy weight” clause isn’t uncommon.

Megan Gale sharing on Instagram

“There are always pregnancy clauses because there is a freeze period where they can freeze the contract if a model falls pregnant,” she said.

She said she understands both parties point of view.

“You can’t look at a situation like this with one view,” she said.

“I think for long-term contracts when brands are investing millions of dollars into someone, it makes sense.

“It’s like an athlete, they have to be able to perform their duties.”

“But as a woman, it’s not really acceptable.”

Another agent said that even regular working models have clauses in their contract which outline they must stick to a certain weight

“This is common practice,” she said.

“Marketing gets fed up with models’ weight fluctuating so they have to be clear about what their expectations are.”