On June 17, Kourtney Kardashian Barker revealed that she’s pregnant.
The adorable announcement came after she and her husband, Travis Barker, had spent over a year trying for a baby via in vitro fertilization — a journey that was heavily documented on Hulu’s The Kardashians.
Ever since she made the news public, Kourt has shared several candid photos of her baby bump with her fans online.
Now, back in 2022, Kourtney revealed that her attitude toward body image had shifted, in part due to the weight gain she experienced because of IVF treatments, as well as the support she receives from Travis.
“Having a partner who’s so supportive of me and always complimenting me no matter what, it’s just helped me to really embrace the changes — and actually to the point where I love the changes now,” she said.
“My ass is amazing. I’m so into my thicker body,” she added. “I also love being curvier. It’s just channeling that queen energy and embracing the woman that I am.”
So it's perhaps unsurprising that she's navigating this pregnancy noticeably differently from how she and her sisters have approached things in the past.
For context, Kourt, 44, has repeatedly expressed how much happier she is in life, not only since she and Travis got together, but also since she shifted her priorities to focus more on her kids and less on work back in 2017, on the advice of a therapist. Kourt shares three kids — Mason, Penelope, and Reign — with her ex-boyfriend Scott Disick.
During her previous pregnancies, Kourt was visibly more focused on body image and weight than she is today. In keeping with family tradition, Kourtney largely stuck to posting professional photos of her baby bumps over candid selfies, and when making public appearances, she always glammed up and wore outfits that covered her baby bump.
After giving birth, Kourtney was no stranger to posing on the covers of magazines with headlines promoting her "post-baby weight loss."
It’s worth noting that Kourt gave birth to her first three kids in 2009, 2012, and 2014 — meaning that she was pregnant ahead of the recent body-positivity movement and huge shift in public attitudes toward body image.
In a 2012 episode of Kourtney and Kim Take Miami, Kourtney — who had just given birth to Penelope — admitted that she went “overboard” trying to rapidly lose weight after she had Mason. Regardless, her then-boyfriend, Scott, continued to encourage her to lose the weight she’d gained after her second pregnancy — something that left fans shocked last year when a clip of his comments resurfaced online.
And Kourt’s past fixation on post-baby weight loss is something that was undoubtedly encouraged by her family, too.
Over the years, the Kardashian/Jenners have undeniably promoted unrealistic beauty standards and repeatedly expressed a desire to be thin — something that came up yet again just last year.
And this glorification of thinness is something that extends into their pregnancies. Kim, for example, admitted during a 2013 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians that she was deeply unhappy with the fact that she’d gained weight during her first pregnancy with daughter North, and even planned to do a photo shoot in order to motivate herself to lose weight.
“As soon as this is done, I want to do Playboy or some naked shoot,” she said just weeks after giving birth, adding that she wanted to be “the sexiest hot mom.” Then, after welcoming her second child, Kim revealed she’d look back at photos of her post-North body in order to motivate herself to lose weight once again.
She'd later admit that one of her biggest KUWTK regrets was filming so much of her pregnancies, specifically because of her weight gain.
"I looked like such a cow, and I can’t stand to see those episodes," she told the Hollywood Reporter. "I would say, 'Try to film me more from chest up so it looks better,' but I look like a blob. I would have rather seen my belly and shot farther away."
Elsewhere, Khloé Kardashian unveiled her “exact plan” for losing baby weight after she welcomed her first daughter, True, in a series of Instagram stories. The youngest of the Kardashian/Jenner bunch, Kylie, also expressed how insecure she was about her body after she gave birth to her first child, Stormi, saying she found the changes "hard" and "discouraging."
And during each of these pregnancies, the Kardashian/Jenners would noticeably stick to sharing glammed-up, filtered photos of their baby bumps, as opposed to more casual ones, and would often step out in public wearing tight-fitting outfits too.
But this time around, things appear to be different for Kourt.
For starters, over the past few weeks, Kourt has made a series of public appearances with her jeans fully unbuttoned.
“I love the unbuttoned jeans. Just enjoying the ride,” one fan wrote alongside the photos on Instagram. Speaking of Kourt’s no-fucks-given approach, someone else commented, “I am digging her NFG maternity wear.”
And it’s not just random public appearances where Kourt has opted for comfort over glam.
Last week, Kourtney rocked up to Khloé’s son Tatum’s first birthday looking super relaxed in a sheer, unbuttoned bodysuit that showed off her baby bump.
Unlike her family members, who were dressed to the nines, Kourt was seemingly makeup-free in the photos posted by Khloé — something that, along with her unbuttoned bodysuit, immediately caught fans’ attention.
“Kourtney pregnant, without makeup is such a vibe. She is so comfortable with Travis,” read one comment with over 5,000 likes. “Kourtney is a whole mood with her body suit undone drinking her matcha not giving a f***,” said another with over 6,000.
Comparing her relaxed look with her sisters’ glammed attire, one user observed, “shes the only one who doesnt feel the need to look perfect all the time, its so refreshing.” Meanwhile, another fan wrote, “I love the way she has chosen to live her life even tho the society has consistently tried to bring her down for daring to live different than her sisters.”
Most recently, Kourt posted a bunch of photos wearing a cropped blue jacket and matching miniskirt, with her bump proudly on display.
The pictures were immediately flooded with heaps of negative comments critiquing Kourt’s outfit choice, with users suggesting she was having a “midlife crisis” and questioning why she wasn’t being “modest.”
Despite the relentless criticism, Kourt appeared carefree once again, responding to a user who called her “crazy” with, “I’m LOCA.”
Meanwhile, several fans defended her against the backlash, noting that she’s simply “embracing and loving herself during pregnancy.”
“I love when pregnant women dress like they aren’t pregnant and STILL pull it off!” one person wrote. “she looks cute asf and happy…. Genuinely.. y’all hating and she loving her best pregnant life,” said another.
“All that matters is that she feels confident, comfortable and beautiful,” someone else added.
