The essay that changed everything
Emily Ratajkowski, 35, published an essay in The Cut titled “Mother fucker.” In it, the model reviews her marriage to filmmaker Sebastian Bear-McClard and how the relationship cooled after the birth of her son Sylvester, whom she calls “Sly.”
“Six months after my son was born, my husband and I stopped having sex. Less than a year later, we separated,” she wrote.
After the breakup, Ratajkowski lived a dating phase with clear rules: never miss her son’s bedtime and not sleep over at someone else’s house. He preferred to return before dawn to be with the little one.
“No matter the number of martinis, I would be fully dressed and out the door to relieve the babysitter and be ready for the 6 a.m. ‘Maamaaaa!’,” she recounted.
In the essay she confesses that she once thought that being a single mother was “the quickest way to ruin a woman’s life.” But over time he transformed that idea and found new strength.
Today, Emily says she enjoys breaking the traditional image of what a mom “should look like.” For her, continuing to be herself is also part of raising her son.
“I think that’s actually one of the ways that I really enjoy being subversive with motherhood. There’s so much around what a mom should look like,” she said.
