Kiara Advani breaks down while speaking about postpartum struggles: ‘Such an identity shift’

Kiara Advani also opened up about experiencing postpartum changes after the birth of her daughter. “Postpartum should be something that’s spoken of much more. Everyone’s journey is different postpartum. It hits you in different ways physically and emotionally,” she said. The actor recalled getting “a skin situation out of the blue.” “Earlier, it’d make me feel, ‘Oh my god! Why has this happened!’ But now in my life, nothing can stop me and I’ll continue to live,” she said.

Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra became parents in July 2025.

On identity shift

Kiara Advani also confessed that she’s learnt to be kinder to herself ever since becoming a mother. “There’s such an identity shift. It’s such a new world. In that moment, it takes time for the woman who’s going through to give herself grace. It’s taken me six months! Because you realize you’re doing so much for everyone else, you forget about the relationship you need to have with yourself, the things you need to tell yourself,” said the actor.

She admitted that she’s been so “other-centric” the whole of her life, she never found the time to nurture a relationship with the self, until she became a mother. “And it’s the best thing I’ve done for myself. After 34 years, I’ve learnt to set boundaries. I’ve learnt not to do overcritical conversations with myself about everything. I learnt not to focus on fear. And I’ve had to teach myself all of these things in these six months,” she added.

Kiara also revealed that the change was gradual as immediately after the birth of her daughter, she was very “critical” of herself. “If I read anything about myself, it’d get to me. I’d go into a very defensive mode. Social media can be a spiral,” said the actor. Earlier this week, Kiara strongly reacted to media reports online that she asked Toxic makers to cut down her intimate scenes with Yash. “Absolute nonsense,” she wrote, putting an end to all the rumours.

Kiara Advani will be next seen in Toxic.

On a new mom’s ‘double hustle’

Kiara Advani also explained how a new mother is always on double duty as she’s not even looking after her newborn baby, but also managing home in a very different way. “When you’re sitting at home, the amount of work a mother or a homemaker does is more than anything any of us can do. I’m someone who’s worked on every day of my life. I’ve done crazy shifts. I’ve done the hustle,” she said.

Kiara added that when she became a mother “all of a sudden”, she wanted to take some much-needed time off. “More than taking time off, I wanted to be present. I was still planning the future, taking meetings and narrations. The hustle is double on this journey of motherhood and work-from-home scenario. You’re responsible for someone else’s life and suddenly, you’re running a whole home in a different way,” she claimed.

Kiara referred to the “identity shift” again by claiming that motherhood doesn’t make you erase your identity, but hold on to it while rethinking it in a very new light. “You have different ideas of the path you want to take, not just as an actor, but in other fields as well. This time makes you really want to sit and reflect the other things you want to do apart from what you’re doing already,” she confessed.

Kiara Advani returned to a set last December, five months after giving birth to Saraayah. “Next chapter , more fire. Let’s do this,” she wrote in the caption, along with posting a picture of herself from the set. “Burnout helps no one in any industry,” she told Vogue India later that month, while echoing fellow new mother Deepika Padukone’s demand for an eight-hour shift on film sets in order to balance motherhood with work.

Kiara revealed she worked on the sets of Toxic for seven months of her pregnancy, even doing intense action sequences for her part. Only the director and the producer were aware of her pregnancy at the time. In order to reassure her unborn baby, Kiara would have a chat with her insider her vanity van. “Mama is only acting, okay? This isn’t real,” she would say.

Kiara Advani debuted her baby bump at Met Gala 2025.

What Kiara Advani has shared about motherhood in the past

Last September, just a couple of months after becoming a mother, Kiara Advani gave her fans a peek into her motherhood journey. She shared an old reel by Rihanna on her social media, where the popstar said, “I think being a mom is probably the hardest job ever. My job seems challenging… It is nothing compared to being a mom, trust me.” She further expressed gratitude to her own mother after becoming one herself, which she never did as a child.

She’s also hailed her Shershaah co-star Sidharth Malhotra as a “hands-on father”. Sidharth, who appeared on The Great Indian Kapil Show last year, also opened up on the changes in his and Kiara’s schedule after becoming parents. “Whether it is taking care of their food or their sleeping pattern, these days, late nights of different levels are happening. I am only playing a supporting actor right now, who is just standing and watching everything,” he confessed.

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Kiara and Sidharth began dating in 2021 while shooting for Vishnuvardhan’s period war drama Shershaah, which dropped directly on Prime Video India. They tied the knot in February 2023 in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Kiara then debuted her baby bump at her Met Gala debut in May 2025 before giving birth to daughter Saraayah in July a couple of months later.