by Zach Johnson
Make no mistake: Beyoncé is always in control of her own narrative.
The 36-year-old superstar was given unprecedented control over Vogue‘s September issue—with editor in chief Anna Wintour’s blessing, of course. From selecting 23-year-old TylerMitchell to be the first black man to shoot the magazine’s cover, to writing personal essays detailing her personal and professional failures and triumphs, she left no stone unturned.
In one essay about learning to love the skin she’s in, Beyoncé wrote, “After the birth of my first child Blue Ivy Carter I believed in the things society said about how my body should look. I put pressure on myself to lose all the baby weight in three months and scheduled a small tour to assure I would do it. Looking back, that was crazy.” So, after giving birth to twins Rumi Carter and Sir Carter last year, Beyoncé “approached things very differently.” For one thing, “I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir. I was swollen from toxemia and had been on bed rest for over a month. My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU. My husband [Jay-Z] was a soldier and such a strong support system for me. I am proud to have been a witness to his strength and evolution as a man, a best friend and a father. I was in survival mode and did not grasp it all until months later. Today I have a connection to any parent who has been through such an experience.” The twins’ complicated delivery didn’t just change her emotionally—it also changed her physically.