Hilary Duff has said she wanted her nine-year-old son to be present during her home birth so he could witness “the strength of women”.
The Lizzie McGuire actress, 33, welcomed her third child, daughter Mae, on March 24, with a water birth.
She told the Informed Pregnancy Podcast son Luca, who she shares with ex-husband Mike Comrie, to be there for a life lesson, and said he was there “right as I was pulling the baby out”.
She added that daughter Banks Violet, two, who she shares with with husband Matthew Koma, arrived “after the fact”.
She said: “He wanted to be there for it, but it happened so fast he missed it.
“It was kind of important for me because I’m really big on being open and honest with him about how strong women are and what childbirth looks like.
“He knows all about periods and it’s important for me to normalise that conversation with him for all the women that are going to be in his life.”
She added: “I think that sometimes a nine-year-old boy is like, ‘Well, men have bigger muscles,’ and, like, yeah, but we bring life into this world. We move a baby through our body.
“There is a big topic of conversation in the house right now: equality, and strength coming from different places besides your muscles or whatever.”