Actress Sameera Reddy, who is expecting her second baby soon, in a recent interview with IANS said that her first pregnancy left her feeling torn between the reality and the pressure to portray an "unreal life" as a celebrity.
The 34-year-old actress, who tied the knot with businessman Akshai Varde in 2014, had her first child in 2015.
"I got pregnant in just a couple of months after my marriage. The game plan was to have the pregnancy and bounce back and getting in the limelight again. But I have never experienced anything like that... It was just the opposite.
"It was the worst case scenario of what I could've imagined in terms of my body and the way I fell apart as a person because the pregnancy was very tough for me," she added.
Earlier last month the Vaaranam Aayiram actress had slammed trollers by saying that everyone cannot be like actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, who returned to her svelte figure post-pregnancy in no time.
"I will not look glamorous all the time. But I wanted to come out and say Hey! it's okay to be like this," she shared.
Recounting the experience of her first pregnancy, she said: "I had placenta previa, which had me on bed rest for almost four to five months after the pregnancy. I just started putting on weight and falling into some kind of place in my head because it went from shows, award functions and a glamorous lifestyle to just not being able to handle what pregnancy was doing to me."
"There is so much pressure upon us as actors or people in the public eye to portray we have this unreal life. I was also buying into it and trying to provide to it as an actor. I was also trying to keep up with that and say, 'Hey! look at I am so perfect'. (But) I was the poster girl of what pregnancy shouldn't be," she added.
After delivering her son, Sameera said she touched 102 kg.
"From being that 'sexy Sam', I went to this. I put on 32 kg up and couldn't recognise myself. I was a complete mess," added the actress, who has featured in films like Race, No Entry and Taxi Number 9211.