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For so many people who find themselves pregnant and excited to start a family with their partner, there’s also a mixed bag of emotions that can come along with it because your whole body can transform in ways you hadn’t even thought about. If you were someone who struggled with body image or had a difficult relationship with food, pregnancy can bring all sorts of things to the surface.
Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin who is married to actor Dylan Sprouse, recently opened up about her pregnancy journey. She admitted that changes to her body and gaining weight throughout her pregnancy has brought up “scars” from her past related to body image and trauma from her early modeling days.
The supermodel discussed the changes to her body during pregnancy that caused her to spiral.
If you were ever curious about whether or not supermodels who get paid thousands of dollars to show off various luxury goods find themselves dealing with body issues, the answer is yes.
On a recent episode of the Wildmen Podcast, which is hosted by her husband Dylan and Brendan Columbus, Barbara opened up for a candid conversation about her pregnancy. She’s in her third trimester, so she’s really experienced the full gamut.
She admitted that she sometimes feels “guilty because [she’s] not enjoying pregnancy as much as a lot of women out there,” but she’s also dealt with a lot of fatigue and nausea throughout her pregnancy.
On top of that, she shared that the process of gaining weight has really reopened body image “scars” from her past that she might not have been prepared for.
“I was like, oh, the number on the scale is really going up super quick, and my arms are getting bigger. You don’t have a bump yet, but your stomach is bigger, and your pants don’t fit. I started spiraling,” she said.
She gives props to her husband for helping her get through pregnancy and any food issues its brought up.
The longtime Victoria’s Secret model also shared that her body image issues date back to when she entered the industry at just 13 years old.
“By 17, every single time I would go into the agency, they would tell me I had to lose weight. My hips were too big. I didn’t even have hips yet,” she shared on the podcast. It’s pretty shocking to learn what some of these modeling agents will put a teenager through.
She shared that she was “already scarred for constantly getting commented on my body,” and she was consistently told to “lose weight, be skinnier, do this, do that,” which involved a lot of dieting and unhealthy eating patterns.
Though she was able to heal a lot of those harmful feelings surrounding food, she said on the podcast that pregnancy has worked to trigger some of those toxic thoughts from the past. However, she credits her husband for helping her feel good in her body throughout pregnancy. “This is when it’s important that you have a good partner. Dylan was there, reminding me every single time that we’re creating life,” she shared.
In 2025, Barbara divulged an endometriosis diagnosis and surgery.
In August 2025, Barbara opened up for the first time on her Instagram about her endometriosis diagnosis and surgery.
She shared that after experiencing years of severe pain, fatigue, irregular periods, and “sleepless nights on the bathroom floor,” she was able to seek out an endometriosis specialist. And three months later she received laparoscopy surgery to remove endometriosis tissue.
According to Massachusetts General Hospital, this disease affects an estimated 200 million people worldwide and can be a common cause of infertility. Between 30 to 50% of people with endometriosis may experience infertility with just a 0 to 10% chance of getting pregnant each month.
It’s a really beautiful thing to think about how Barbara had this endometriosis diagnosis and surgery just last year and was able to successfully get pregnant just a few months later.
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