Versace, Bulgari diamonds, a bold, bright lip – and a breast pump.
Not a combination you expect to see, particularly in a glossy magazine shoot. But when Rachel McAdams does it, the world sat up and noticed.
The A-list actress and Oscar nominee appears mid cover-shoot for Girls. Girls. Girls. looking vibrant, powerful and sexy. She’s also shown expressing milk using a double breast pump – in a move that has shocked, moved and been applauded by many women.
The magazine founder, Claire Rothstein, uploaded the image to Instagram and said she’d done so in an attempt to “normalise” breastfeeding.
“A million reasons why I wanted to post this picture,” she wrote, explaining that McAdams did the shoot six months after giving birth to her son and was expressing milk between shots as she was still breastfeeding him.
“We had a mutual appreciation disagreement about who’s idea it was to take this picture but I’m still sure it was hers which makes me love her even more. Breastfeeding is the most normal thing in the world and I can’t for the life of me imagine why or how it is ever frowned upon or scared of.”
Rothstein continued” “I don’t even think it needs explaining but just wanted to put this out there, as if it even changes one person’s perception of something so natural, so normal, so amazing then that’s great. Besides she’s wearing Versace and @bulgariofficial diamonds and is just fucking major. Big shout out to all the girls.”
The actress, who is 40, gave birth to a baby boy in April. She and screenwriter boyfriend Jamie Linden have kept details of their son’s name shrouded in secrecy – and didn’t even confirm the birth for several months. So this could be seen as a bold move for someone so private.
The photo has been hailed by many women on social media. It’s received more than 27,500 likes, attracted comments such as, “Breastfeeding is life”, and, “On Wednesdays we wear breast pumps” – a tongue-in-cheek nod to McAdams’s role in cult movie ‘Mean Girls’.
Others called her, “a true icon” and some women even said they were thinking of framing the picture and putting it on the wall. Author and presenter Giovanna Fletcher said: “As I’ve said many times before, motherhood is a leveller! This shot of Rachel McAdams is so powerful, I can’t stop thinking about it.”
She added: “Expressing milk is something I knew nothing about before becoming a mum. When I first did it I felt like a cow with udders. I still feel like that at times but three babies in and I’ve got used to the grrr grrrr grrrr of the pump and just get on with it.”
Fletcher also lifted the lid on the less-than-glamorous surroundings most women find themselves in when they’re having to express. “Nothing prepared me for the amount of stock rooms and toilets I’d be getting my baps out in when away working. It’s great having this picture start such a big conversation around working mums and our milk supply!”