11 Black & brown celebrities who birthed their babies at home
We rarely hear stories of home birth that centre the experiences of Black and brown pregnant people so I’ve done some research to learn about some Black and brown celebrities who’ve birthed their babies at home.
KEHLANI
Kehlani gave birth to her first baby, at home in 2019. She was upright in her bathroom and birthed without pharmacological pain relief. Kehlani posted on instagram saying, "unmedicated home birth was the absolute hardest yet most powerful thing I’ve ever done."
They also stated, “Using my experience to shame another’s isnt what i want,” Kehlani continued. “Power to anyone who brings life forth, it’s a next level journey whichever way 🧡”
Image source: @kehlani’s instagram
2. SUMMER WALKER
All three of Summer Walker’s babies were born at home. Her first baby was born in 2021 and her twins were born in 2022. She wrote in a caption under a video clip of her giving birth to twins during a home birth. “Just sharing to inspire other women ’cause I know once you carry twins to almost 42 weeks with (one breech), people will try and steer you towards induction or c-section (which there’s nothing wrong with these. I just didn’t want it for myself.” Summer also ingested her twin placenta!
She had her birth team supporting her including her doula Erykah Badu and her daughter (a trainee doula) there to witness the birth too. Erykah stated, “a doula must be like water, follow your instincts”
Image source: Essence Magazine
3. GIGI HADID
Gigi Hadid gave birth to her first daughter at home in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic. She opted for a home birth as she would have had her birth partners severely restricted in hospital. Gigi had her mother, Yolanda, sister Bella, a local midwife, and the midwife's assistant in addition to Zayn during the birth. Zayn caught the baby when she came out: "It didn’t even click that she was out," Gigi said. "I was so exhausted, and I looked up and he’s holding her. It was so cute."
Image source: Us Weekly
4. TEYANA TAYLOR
Teyana Taylor had a home births for both of fast labours in her bathroom with her husband Iman Shumpert as her only support without any medical professionals present. Her first was an unplanned home birth in 2015 and her second was born in 2020. She described Iman clamping the umbilical cord using a pair of red headphones before the ambulance arrived five minutes later. Iman wrote, “Now…when we buy homes, we always find a bathroom with great energy… but not in a million years would you be able to tell me we’d deliver both of our daughters in a bathroom without the assistance of a hospital!”
Image source: BabyGaga
5. JODIE TURNER-SMITH
Jodie gave birth in 2020 and in her essay with British Vogue recounts, “We had already decided on a home birth, because of concerns about negative birth outcomes for Black women in America – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of pregnancy-related deaths is more than three times greater for Black women than for white women, pointing, it seems to me, to systemic racism. We never imagined that in the coming weeks, hospitals around the country would begin restricting who could be present in the birthing rooms, forcing mothers to deliver without the support person or people of their choice. Delivering at home ensured that I had what every single woman deserves to have: full agency in determining my birth support.”
Image Source: The Today Show
6. THANDIWE NEWTON
Thandie had all three of her babies born at home in her house in London in 2000, 2004 and 2014. She wrote on instagram, “My 3rd home birth with brilliant independent midwife Caroline Flint - and Carole Goddard @PhoenixMidwives. Keep independent midwifery alive!
Image Source: MadeForMums
7. PATRICIA BRIGHT
Patricia’s second baby was born in her hallway at home in 2019 when she realised her labour was progressing very quickly and there wasn’t enough time to get to hospital. In her youtube vlog she describes how she was “roaring like a lion for all her neighbours to hear.”
Image source: @patriciabright’s instagram
8. MONTANA BROWN
Earlier this year, Montana Brown had her second baby at home and it was a breech birth. She said, “"I feel like consultants like to point you towards an elective instead of a vaginal breech birth but it is possible and also it can be safe to do with an experienced team around you”. She also said, “Thank goodness for Mark being my rock throughout, my amazing doula reading me a birth meditation when I felt uneasy and my lovely midwife Heather telling me I’m safe and baby was happy and moving south and on her way!”
Image source: @montanabrown’s instagram
9. ERYKAH BADU
Erykah Badu (aka Erykah Badoula) gave birth to all three of her babies at home in 1997, 2004 and 2009.. For her first birth Erykah said she had a “very wise doula” and midwives who gave her the “freedom” to continue living her life while she laboured. “I didn’t have to uproot myself,” she explains. “Maybe to some it’s scary, but preparation is the whole key.”
Image source: Pinterest
10. MAYA RUDOLPH
Maya had her second baby at home in 2009. “A homebirth was not my plan, but that’s what happened … because the baby came out really fast,” Rudolph recalls. “Luckily, she just kind of glided into her father’s arms.”
She also said, “It was scary, but it was kind of awesome,” she says. “Hospitals make me nervous because I feel like hospital equals death, like it smells like dead people and weird fluids that pickle people.”
Image source: Pinterest
11. LISA BONET
Lisa Bonet gave birth to all three of her babies at home in 1988, 2007 and 2008. In an interview from 1990 on David Letterman, Lisa stated, “I think they make it too technical nowadays and I don’t think you need all the things they say you do…I think you should be in a comfortable surrounding. Lenny was there, my mum was there and I was able to crawl around my floor.”
Image source: @80sradical’s instagram
Reflections
It was so fascinating to see how variable the reasons were why different people chose to birth their babies at home. Reasons included:
Wanting to avoid unnecessary medical intervention
Wanting to be in a comfortable, safe environment
Wanting to avoid pharmacological pain relief
Wanting to adopt free choice of birth positions
Feeling unnerved in hospitals and associating them with being sick
Understanding how systemic racism in maternity care impacts Black and brown women and pregnant people once they enter the hospital
Wanting to have several family members and friend present and not have birth partner’s restricted
Wanting the freedom to continue living one’s life and not feel uprooted.
Fast labours and having no choice but too!
Let me know in the comments if you know of any other Black or brown celebs who had their babies at home!
Text sources
Refinery - Kehlani Defends Her Decision To Have An Unmedicated Home Birth
Essence - Summer Walker Gives Birth To Twins: ‘I’m So Proud of Myself’
Gigi Hadid Recalls 14-Hour Labor While Detailing Baby Khai's At-Home Birth
Billboard - Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert deliver their baby in home bathroom
YouTube - My Unexpected Labour and Delivery Story - Patricia Bright
People Magazine - Erykah Badu on Homeschooling, Homebirths and More
People Magazine - Maya Rudolph: 'I Think I'm 25 Months Pregnant'
