Barbara Palvin looked fantastic as she walked down the Victoria’s Secret runway on Sunday, at this year’s sparkly Los Angeles show, just six weeks after giving birth to her first child, daughter, Sylvie, with husband Dylan Sprouse.
And while many praised her for her courage, dedication, and beauty as she made her runway return, her presence and backstage comments about her short maternity leave also sparked quite a public debate about maternity care, mental health, and the expectations surrounding mothers’ bodies.
It all began when Palvin was asked by reporters how she prepared for the show and how she was feeling being back in her pretty lingerie and VS angel wings. The model admitted to Page Six that her body luckily “bounced back” very quickly with the help of a healthy diet and light exercise—“nothing crazy.” But she noted to USA Today that she shouldn’t be praised for simply going back to work: “In America, maternity leave is six to eight weeks. I’m six weeks tomorrow, so nothing major here. I’m just doing what every woman does in America.”
She added to Page Six: “And I only have to walk down a runway.”
Some have taken Palvin’s remarks in a positive light, as her trying to join hands with fellow mothers living in the U.S. and coping with the country’s inefficient health insurance and maternity care system, but many others have accused her of being out of touch, and missing the mark on the true issues most new mothers, with less privilege, have to deal with.
“The commentary surrounding early postpartum returns highlights a critical disconnect in how society views maternal recovery,” says Dr. Bonnie Mitchell, clinical director at Mental Health and Stabilization Center of Sacromento.
“A six-week timeline is a biological landmark for basic physical healing. It was never designed as a benchmark for psychological readiness. When brief maternity leaves are framed as normal or standard practice, it creates a narrative that a mother should be fully functional and ‘bounced back,’” she adds. “This psychological standard fosters profound internal guilt, isolation, and burnout for women who are still processing birth trauma, bonding with their child, or struggling with basic emotional regulation.”
