Olivia Bowen reveals she injured herself by exercising too soon after giving birth amid heartbreaking struggle with her postpartum body image: ‘I hated myself beyond belief’

Olivia Bowen has admitted that she injured herself as she began exercising too soon after giving birth to her son.

The former Love Island star, 30, welcomed her first child Abel, two, with husband and fellow islander husband Alex Bowen, 33, in June 2022.

However, despite loving her body while pregnant, Olivia has admitted that she ‘really really struggled’ with her postpartum figure, so much so that she ‘hated’ herself ‘beyond belief’. 

In a candid and emotional chat with Giovanna Fletcher on her Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, Olivia told how she ‘knew’ she’d struggle to with the look of her body after giving birth, with the star constantly comparing herself to other new mums.

Discussing her post-pregnancy figure, she said: ‘So I knew when I got pregnant that was something that I would just lose my s**t over after. I really… I still struggle with it. 

Olivia Bowen has admitted that she injured herself as she began exercising too soon after giving birth to her son

However, despite loving her body while pregnant, Olivia has admitted that she ‘really really struggled’ with her postpartum figure, so much so that she ‘hated’ herself ‘beyond belief’

‘But after I hated myself like beyond belief. Like really, really struggled with my body image. Pregnant – loved, loved, loved it. And then the minute, that minute Abel was born and I was looking at myself in a completely different light, which makes no sense. 

‘The fact that you can look at yourself when you’re pregnant and absolutely love the way you look and think, “wow, I’m incredible. I’m carrying this baby”. But then after it was like I was comparing myself to other girls that were in the public eye, that had had kids around the same time as me. 

‘And I was looking at them thinking, “oh my God, you look amazing” and not thinking about myself and thinking, “I need to bounce back”.’

After convincing herself that she didn’t look great in comparison to others, Olivia embarked on a gruelling exercise routine – which would prove to have a negative effect on her body.

She explained: ‘I ended up actually really injuring myself because I had a complicated birth. I started running too early because I was so conscious of what I looked like. 

‘I ended up breaking my stitches. I ended up… I horse rode too early because I wanted to get fit again, and I caused myself a lot of damage. 

‘Not going into too much detail, but I ended up, like, actually really hurting myself from wanting to bounce back.’

But despite causing herself physical pain through her actions, the influencer confessed that she would probably still do the same thing of she went on to have another child.  

The former Love Island star, 30, welcomed her first child Abel, two, with husband and fellow islander husband Alex Bowen , 33, in June 2022

In a candid and emotional chat with Giovanna Fletcher on her Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast , Olivia told how she ‘knew’ she’d struggle to with the look of her body after giving birth

Discussing her post-pregnancy figure, she said: ‘So I knew when I got pregnant that was something that I would just lose my s**t over after. I really… I still struggle with it’ [pictured last year]

She said: ‘It was like… and even now, I think I still wouldn’t have done it differently. Really, the first time around… The second… If I got pregnant again, I know to look after myself, but I know for a fact I would have done that again and again and again. 

Like that wouldn’t have changed. But I guess it is, you know, my job is on social media. And to see all these girls look so incredible and think that you don’t look like that. 

‘It was such a hard thing. And because I’d always had such great body confidence and I loved my body, that was just someone I didn’t really recognize and I had no respect for. And it’s, it’s so sad.’

While Olivia struggled with her body image, she also faced a battle with postnatal depression.

Opening up to Giovanna on not feeling like a mother when Abel was born, she said: ‘I remember writing in my notes, actually, I think he was about three months old, and I remember writing in my notes that I didn’t want to be looked at as a mum. 

‘I hated myself like beyond belief. Like really, really struggled with my body image. Pregnant – loved, loved, loved it. And then the minute, that minute Abel was born and I was looking at myself in a completely different light’

While Olivia struggled with her body image, she also faced a battle with postnatal depression 

Opening up to Giovanna on not feeling like a mother when Abel was born, she said: ‘I remember writing in my notes, actually, I think he was about three months old, and I remember writing in my notes that I didn’t want to be looked at as a mum’

‘I was like, I’m not a mum, I don’t feel like a mum. I have a baby and I love my baby, but I do not want anyone to look at me or call me mum. I didn’t like it when people referred to me as mum. I hated it.’

As Giovanna suggested it was due to Olivia perhaps feeling ‘lost’ amid the traumatic birth, Olivia explained: ‘I think it I think it is like the lost feeling afterwards. Like I think that postnatal is just so, so common and we don’t even realize it. And I really struggled after, like anxiety wise, I was really depressive. 

‘And I do think I was just shunning the image of being a mom because I just so wasn’t ready to give up who I was before, and I felt like I’d lost my whole identity. I had no clue who I was. Yeah, like I remember talking to my friends and being like, I literally don’t know who I am. 

‘Like, I could not tell you one thing about myself and to lose yourself like that deeply. And then I think I’ve always. Because I didn’t want kids, I always looked at being a mom as not a bad thing, but just something that was never me.’