Halsey gives searing, eye-opening critique of music industry’s treatment of pregnant people
Halsey speaking to Apple Music 1 host Zane Rowe (YouTube/Halsey/Apple Music)
Halsey has condemned the music industry’s treatment of pregnant people, saying the way they were shamed made them feel “like a teen mom”.
The 26-year-old “Bad at Love” singer welcomed their first child Ender last month as they were preparing to release their fourth studio album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.
On Monday (30 August) they opened up to Apple Music 1 host Zane Rowe about some of the difficulties they experienced while being pregnant during the project’s promotional run.
“You have to call the CEO of X, Y, Z and say, ‘Hey, hi. I’m just calling to let you know, I’m pregnant. I didn’t want you to find out on Instagram. I wanted to tell you myself, personally. It’s still business as usual over here though, don’t worry. My personal choice isn’t going to affect your profitability or your productivity or your assembly line,'” they said.
“And also, in what world would you ever have to call me to tell me that you were having a baby? But I have to call you because it impacts your product.”
Halsey has been outspoken about their struggles with endometriosis and fertility, and has previously revealed that they suffered a traumatic miscarriage on stage three years ago.
The star explained they put a lot of thought into beginning their family and was convinced it was the right time to do so – yet reactions from within music industry bosses made them doubt their decision.
“I’m 26, and I tried very hard for this pregnancy and it was like, I’m financially independent, I’m pretty far along in my career, it feels like the right time for me to do it. And I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times,” Halsey said.
“People were like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re so young, and you have so much to do in your career, and you’re not married, and you’re [pregnant].'”
Pregnant Halsey was turned down by magazines
The Grammy-nominated singer also took aim at the press, saying they were too often treated as a pregnant person rather than an artist.
“There was publications [that when] we were going out and trying to set up magazine covers based around the album release, they were like, ‘Yeah, but is she going to be pregnant? Because we don’t want to do a maternity cover.’
“And I was like, ‘It’s not a maternity cover. It’s about my album, I just happen to be pregnant.’ And they’re like, ‘No, it’s a pregnant cover.’ And I was like, ‘So I can’t go talk about my album?'”
Watch the full interview below.
