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Chrissy Teigen is no stranger to posing for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She was a 2010 “Rookie of the Year,” and has appeared in the magazine several times since.
Teigen recently unveiled her plans to appear in the 2017 SI Swimsuit issue — but she acknowledges that things are different this time.
The 31-year-old model became a mom last year to 10-month-old daughter Luna Simone. And while she is still comfortable in her own skin, she acknowledges that pregnancy and childbirth have affected her body.
PEOPLE caught up with Teigen at a beach in Miami as she shot a commercial for Vita Coco. (She’s the brand’s new spokesperson and was filming its first ever national commercial.) After chatting about husband John Legend, Teigen spoke candidly about how motherhood has changed her modeling career.
“When I was pregnant, I stepped away from any modeling,” Teigen says. “I didn’t want to be like, ‘Oh my God, I have a Victoria’s Secret show coming up.’ I needed to take that out of the picture and focus on being pregnant, having a healthy baby, and being a mom. That was my priority, not how I looked.”
Teigen says she blocked out the pressure to lose the baby weight. “I had something much more important going on than how my body looked,” she says.
“I wanted to get back to being active and healthy again, but I wasn’t going to obsess about it. I worked out, I took care of myself, but I didn’t obsess about it.”
Above all, she knows that things are different now.
“I’m comfortable with my body, but I know that it will never be the same,” she says. “Luna has changed a lot about my body. My bones feel a bit weaker, my back, my everything. But I’m okay with it. I have this little face to look at all the time. Whatever happened to my body, it’s completely worth it.”
This article originally appeared on People.com
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