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Ksenija Lukich takes aim at the mum shamers

The model and television presenter insists she will do parenting her own way.

“Shaming other people into doing things the way you see best doesn’t make sense to me.” (Picture: Steven Chee)
“Shaming other people into doing things the way you see best doesn’t make sense to me.” (Picture: Steven Chee)

When anyone asks Ksenija Lukich how she feels about being pregnant, the model and television presenter sticks to a pre-written script.

“I preface my response by saying, ‘I’m really grateful. Extremely happy. And wouldn’t change it for the world,’” she tells Stellar On Friday.

“Shaming other people into doing things the way you see best doesn’t make sense to me.” (Picture: Steven Chee)
“Shaming other people into doing things the way you see best doesn’t make sense to me.” (Picture: Steven Chee)

Yet the reality is that for Lukich – like for so many women – pregnancy has proved challenging. And because she’s spoken publicly about the difficulties she and her husband Dan Bragg had conceiving, she sometimes feels as if she’s not allowed to complain about how trying the experience can be.

“I would go through agony to get this child but it’s also really hard work,” Lukich says. “It’s exhausting. Your body is changing. You feel outside yourself, which is a challenge for a lot of women and such a big adjustment. And it hurts!”

It took two years for the former E! Australia host and her lawyer husband to fall pregnant; now she’s expecting their first baby in a matter of days. And while she has a rough birth plan, she’s also trying to remain as flexible as possible, and says she refuses to buy in to any mum-shaming that comes her way.

“I’m very aware of the fact that every pregnancy and birth is completely different and I’ve always disliked that very negative energy. I don’t understand it,” Lukich says.

Find more exclusives inside this Sunday’s Stellar.
Find more exclusives inside this Sunday’s Stellar.

“You have to raise your child how you see fit, and shaming other people into doing things the way you see best doesn’t make sense to me. I have my own opinions. [What others do] might not be what I do, but that’s OK. We don’t have to shame each other for having a different point of view.”

MORE STELLAR ON FRIDAY

Erin Molan: ‘I would have loved to get a job on Today’

Lisa Greenberg: ‘I didn’t want to be the shameful wife’

Originally published as Ksenija Lukich takes aim at the mum shamers

Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/lifestyle/stellar/ksenija-lukich-takes-aim-at-the-mum-shamers/news-story/46ec828ab2b10ea26638d477129b809f