Pregnant and kicking ass!

Our lives are entwined with those of celebrities, that’s true. And when one of our favourite celebs announces their pregnancy, there’s another level of excitement. But lately a pregnancy announcement also comes with a weird sense of idolisation.

Take, for example, Serena Williams, who recently shared that she was 20 weeks along. Suddenly all people could talk about was the fact that she won the Australian Open while pregnant. It was like the world couldn't believe a woman could win the Grand Slam title and carry a child.

Similarly people seem to be having a hard time getting over the fact that Gal Gadot filmed ‘Wonder Woman’ at five months pregnant. The reaction is as though Gadot is actually Wonder Woman, but she's only doing her job...and also pregnant.

We shouldn’t dismiss the amount of work that goes into winning a tennis championship or filming a blockbuster movie or, you know, growing a human inside you, but it's important to note that pregnancy doesn’t mean a woman is suddenly transformed into a helpless creature.

Whoever said women are the weaker sex didn’t really take into account the millions of women who get up every morning, get ready to kick ass, all while they’re nurturing a human being inside themselves. Working during pregnancy or not is a woman’s prerogative, but these stars prove that nothing slows them down. Here are some other famous pregnant women who continued on with their lives no superhero costume needed.

Alysia Montano
A photo of a heavily pregnant Alysia Montano running in the 800 m race at the US Track and Field championships went viral a couple of years ago. The US Olympian was 34-weeks pregnant, that’s nearly 8 months, while she ran the race, finishing in 2 min 32.13 seconds.

Even though she finished last in her heat, the crowd went wild cheering for the five-time national champion. She had consulted her physicians, and was even encouraged by them, before she ran the race.

Irina Shayk

The supermodel walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway while expecting her first child in 2016 with boyfriend Bradley Cooper. Shayk debuted her tiny baby bump on the show. She was in her second trimester and a bit more covered up than other models to try and conceal her pregnancy.

M.I.A

More than her onstage performance at the 2009 Grammys, M.I.A made news because of her nine-month-pregnant belly that completely overshadowed Jay Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and TI on stage.

The singer ditched conventional maternity wear for a see-through Henry Holland number, complete with opaque polka dotted panels. Oh, and the concert just so happened to fall on the Sri Lankan singer's due date.

Beyonce
Beyoncé, who is pregnant with twins, presented her ode to womanhood at the Grammys earlier this year. Dressed head to toe in gold, the “Single Ladies” singer emulated fertility goddesses from the past and gave a performance that made Adele dedicate her ‘Album of the Year’ win to her.

This is not the first time Beyoncé performed while being heavily pregnant. The singer announced her first pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards red carpet, and later revealed her baby bump while performing on stage.

Carol Gracias

The Indian supermodel walked the ramp for Gaurang Shah’s Lakme Fashion Week while six months pregnant. “After the show I received response from everywhere that I was breaking convention and norm. But that was not my intention. I didn't think there was anything heroic about showing off my baby bump or going to work with it.

Millions of women do it every day, some in manual labour jobs on the streets. We have all seen 7-8 months' pregnant women carrying stones in the heat, just to feed their families. This is unfortunately the common life of women in India and what needs changing,” said the supermodel about her walk.

Marissa Mayer

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer invited criticism from around the world when she continued to work throughout her pregnancy and took only two weeks of maternal leave post her delivery citing an uncomplicated pregnancy. It was then reported that she had set up a nursery in her office for her first baby.

While the whole world and their cousins opined on Marissa setting a negative precedent for other female employees, especially with the pitiful state of parental leave policies in place for women, Marissa responded by expanding Yahoo’s parental leave to 16 weeks (from 12 weeks) for women and eight weeks for men.

Gal Gadot

Gal Gadot is not actually Wonder Woman, but there were days during filming when it could easily have been the truth. The Israeli actress was five-months pregnant when she did reshoots for the action scenes in the movie. She had to wear a green screen baby bump version of her costume. “On close-up, I looked very much like Wonder Woman,” she told, “On wide shots I looked very funny, like Wonder Woman pregnant with Kermit the Frog.”

Director Patty Jenkins couldn’t stop admiring Gal’s work ethic. “She’s pregnant during part of the movie, in a suit out in a field, in the freezing cold in others,” she said, “There are so many things we asked her to do: Now do it on one foot. Now shout while you’re doing it. Now it’s raining in the freezing cold and you’ve lost your voice, go. Everyday it was a hilarious gauntlet and she would do it.”

Kerri Walsh Jennings

When Kerri Walsh Jennings won her third Olympic gold in beach volleyball at the London Olympics in 2012, she was playing with a secret: She was five weeks pregnant. Jennings had had a miscarriage before having her first son, and she knew the risks of miscarriage, but said she didn't want to stop.

Her pregnancy didn't throw off her game at all in London. "I gave everything I had," she said. In fact, the prospect of having baby was a big motivator throughout her training and competition. "At the end of my tunnel was this next phase, expanding my family," Jennings said. "I wanted to earn that third."

Susan Wojcicki

The CEO of YouTube and a mother of five, Susan Wojcicki is one of the most powerful women in tech. She joined Google, back in 1998, as its 16th employee, while she was four months pregnant with her first child. Because there were no policies on parental leaves in the company at that time, Susan continued to work throughout her pregnancy term. Her subsequent pregnancies coincided with some of Google’s biggest milestones, including the acquisition of YouTube.

When Susan announced her fifth pregnancy, she also declared that she wouldn’t be taking a long maternity leave. Susan knows that a woman in her position is privileged to make the choice of coming back to work early or not. "When you're a junior level woman and get pregnant, people always ask if you'll quit. But no one asks me that now," she confessed while speaking about the necessity of federally funded parental leaves that would encourage more women to join the workforce.

Serena Williams

The tennis superstar won her seventh Australian open and 23rd Grand Slam singles title in January this year without dropping a set. Her record-setting victory became even more extraordinary when it was revealed that she was eight-weeks pregnant while playing in the competition.