Emily Ratajkowski Was 'Relieved' to Have a Son

Back in March, the supermodel and husband Sebastian Bear-McClard welcomed their son, Sylvester Apollo. However, while she originally wanted a daughter, Ratajkowski said she was "so relieved" to learn that Sylvester was a boy upon further reflection, especially given her own experience.

In a recent conversation with writer Lisa Taddeo for Elle, Ratajkowski explained that she started "being sexualized way before puberty," and was fully "aware of it" as a young girl.

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"I have a memory: I did a sexy move down the wall of my parents' kitchen. I was probably in first grade and my parents were like, 'Where did you learn that?,'" she recalled. "I was like, 'I fricking learned it. That's what women do.'"

Granted, Ratajkowski went on to say she wanted more children, which means this issue "might be something [she has to] deal with later." But even so, the experience of being a mother itself has given her a lot to think about, though she hates "the idea that you become a mother and everything changes."

"You go from child to sex object to mother. But it was one of the most powerful physical experiences," she said before adding that she also tackles this topic in her new book, My Body.

"Being in a room and trusting my body — even though there are people around me who say that they know it better than me or that they have a right to it in some way — was hugely impactful," Ratajkowski said of the birthing process.

"It wasn't until I was rereading the whole book that I realized that at the beginning, there's an essay about not being able to say no. And then in the hospital, I say no, my body responds to me saying no, and I give birth to my son," she continued. "Writing these essays allowed me to get to a place to be in that room and be connected enough to my body to be able to say, "No, we are not going to use the vacuum." Then my body's like, "She just said no. We're going to deliver this baby."

Read Ratajkowski's interview with Taddeo via Elle.

Photo via Getty / Theo Wargo