Australian supermodel Nicole Trunfio has appeared in a straight up stunning photograph breastfeeding her son Zion on the cover of ELLE Australia’s June subscriber edition, which comes out today:
Trunfio Instagrammed the cover photo yesterday (one of many, many people to do so), with the message:
“There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than motherhood. The last thing I want to do is be controversial, so please take this for what it is, let us #normalisebreastfeeding there is nothing worst than a mother that is judged for feeding her hungry child in public.”
“I obviously don’t look like this or wear [these clothes] while I am breastfeeding but this stands for all women out there, whether you breastfeed or not, we gave birth, we are women, we are mothers. Thank you to ELLE for being so bold and making such an encouraging, positive and healthy statement. #womenunite.”
The shot was completely unplanned, says ELLE editor-in-chief Justine Cullen.
“Zion needed a feed, Nicole gave it to him and when we saw how beautiful they looked we simply moved her onto the set,” she said.
Whoever made that suggestion needs a pay rise stat. It’s not the first time a breastfeeding mother has been featured on the cover of a magazine (see TIME Magazine’s May 2012 cover, featuring a woman breastfeeding a son who looks old enough to make himself breakfast), but it’s nothing short of a powerful statement about breastfeeding in public, which somehow still seems to be up for debate in 2015.
Zion was “a dream” to shoot with, says ELLE features editor Vanessa Lawrence, who wrote the piece. “Possibly the easiest cover shoot we’ve ever done!”
“We had a lengthy discussion about how comfortable Nicole feels feeding Zion whenever, and wherever, he needs it – as she should be. Whether a woman chooses to breastfeed, chooses not to or isn’t able to, the biggest takeaway here is that there should be no judgement.”
The cover is garnering all kinds of positive reactions, with Trunfio herself saying she “teared up” when she saw the cover. It’s her first child with fiancé with Grammy winner Gary Clark (how’s that for genetics), and in the article says she’s taken to motherhood “like a duck to water”.
The general public issue for us non-subscribing peons hits stands on Monday.
