Jess Hardiman
Ashley James has been praised by fans for showing off her ‘real’ post-baby body in a series of gorgeous ‘unposed’ snaps on Instagram.
The Made in Chelsea star is mum to Alfie and Ada, having welcomed the youngest of her two kids earlier this year.
Ashley and partner Tommy welcomed little Ada via caesarean section, saying her eldest Alfie had been ‘amazing’ with his new sister.
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"Seeing her for the first time was surreal," she told Hello in March.
"And I definitely did have that 'love at first sight' feeling, which I didn't have with Alfie, probably because of how traumatic it was. I was very excited but mainly just grateful she was okay."
Since then, they’ve clearly been enjoying life as a family of four, with Ashley regularly sharing snaps of their days out with one another on social media – including a recent European trip to mark the end of Tommy’s paternity leave and a visit to Longleat Safari Park.
And they decided to make the most of the recent UK heatwave, hitting up the seaside for a ‘family beach day’ to celebrate Tommy’s birthday.
Ashley posted a carousel of pictures from their happy, sunny day, smiling at the camera in her black bikini.
Encouraging fans to ‘swipe all the way to the end’ to see the ‘reality’ of her postnatal form, Ashley said she felt it was crucial to accept her body was still in recovery.
She wrote: “Little family beach day for Tommy's birthday was the perfect way to end of this amazing summer weather.
“Swipe all the way to the end to see the reality of my postnatal body when it's unposed - I think it's so important to show my body being a body.
“I am still so grateful and love it for bringing me my babies and it's still recovering. I treat it with kindness and patience.”
Many of her followers had nothing but praise for keeping it ‘real’ with her honest snaps, with one commenting: “What an amazing role model you are to both the older and younger generation. It’s such a shame there aren’t more people as inspirational as you are!”
Someone else said: “You’ve no idea how awesome it feels to see other moms with bodies like mine! I can’t wait for the day postpartum bodies are in mainstream media as much as any other body type!”
A third wrote: “Love this Ashley it’s important for women to feel embarrassed or ashamed that they’re not expected to ‘snap back’ to pre pregnancy and to know it’s normal to have a tummy, stretch marks loose skin and all the rest of it this is really brilliant love how real you are.”
A fourth added: “Honestly love you, you’re such a breath of fresh air to other mums. We should love and honour our post partum bodies - they created the most important little lives.”