Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Dishes on Motherhood & Stereotypes

Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you.

Award winning Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is now a mother and no one was the wiser. Rather than announce on a social media platform like we are used to with celebrities, she came clean with David Pilling who was interviewing her for the Financial Times. She had ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail drink in place of wine and chose to explain why.

 

“This is just very sugary, very sweet. I would probably have a glass of wine, but I’m breastfeeding, I’m happy to announce. This is the first time I’m saying it publicly. I have a lovely little girl so I feel like I haven’t slept . . . but it’s also just really lovely and strange”

 

We are not alone in the dark as she also mentioned she kept it from her friends because she wanted it to be personal. Her reservations are understandable because as an outspoken feminist, her motherhood status  would have become a long and tedious topic of discussion.

 

“I have some friends who probably don’t know I was pregnant or that I had a baby. I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy. We don’t expect fathers to perform fatherhood. I went into hiding. I wanted it to be as personal as possible”

 

Unwilling to disclose more of her personal life, Chimamanda quickly moved on from baby talk to the state of racism in the United States post-Obama. A discussion that was a bright background story in her much talked about novel Americanah.

 

Speaking on what character she related most to in Americanah, her answer was strong willed Ifemelu

 

“I’ve had to spend a lot of time convincing people that she’s not me, but in some ways she is. I liked her. I didn’t always like her. She can be soft or prickly. I wanted her to be all of those things, because I just think that we need more women to be all of those things — and for it to be OK.”

 

Congratulations to the talented writer on the birth of her baby girl.