Karolína Kurková Expecting Baby #3

Model Karolína Kurková, 36, has a bun in the oven!

Kurková is expecting her third child with husband Archie Drury. In a personal essay for Glamour, she revealed, “When my husband and I found out we were pregnant this year, we were surprised but excited. I believe things happen when they are supposed to — it’s part of that magic thing we don’t always have control over. We have to surrender, be patient, evolve, and grow. But being pregnant for the third time, and especially being pregnant during this time, is a different experience.”

Referencing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Karolína wrote, “You don’t really get to experience it with your loved ones, you can’t see extended family, you go to ultrasounds by yourself.”

“For me, I’m also in a different place. When I had my two other pregnancies, I was younger. Now in my mid-30s, I’m more confident in my skin and benefiting from a year that’s brought so many opportunities to think, reflect, and reevaluate,” Karolína emphasized. “I think this time has brought a lot of things to the surface for many of us — things we might have dismissed or thought we could deal with later — and forced us to think about who we are and what really matters. The focus has shifted.”

Karolína shared her take on pregnancy, calling it a “special, magic moment.” She added, “Your body goes through so many changes — some you like and some you don’t — to build a human being with a heart, with a mind, with a personality. Pregnancy made me in awe of what my body can do and endure.”

Opening up on her past insecurities about her body, Karolína noted, “My third pregnancy has given me the opportunity to finally feel free in my body.”

She elaborated, “Personally, I love what happens to my body during pregnancy. It’s a beautiful, feminine, sensual time. When I give birth and when I’m pregnant, I really feel like a woman. It’s like, ‘Wow. I can do that. I’m so strong. I pushed this, I carried this, I’m breastfeeding this, I’m giving this person life.’ It’s a Wonder Woman feeling. And it’s your right to enjoy that. Celebrate it. Document it. Frame it.”

Karolína also explained her desire to document her pregnancy, saying, “I’m blessed that I am able to get pregnant, and that I get to do this for the third time — maybe my last time — so I wanted to take some pregnancy photos.  I wanted them to be intimate, personal, shot in my home. It was my clothes. It was how I wanted to be photographed. And it was how I wanted to be seen.”

In her essay, Karolína discussed having her belly button retouched “over and over” by editors during her 15-plus-year modeling career. She wrote, “Why would people do that? No one asked me, ‘Is it okay if we give you a different belly button? Are you okay?’ I guess it was a time where nobody ever asked, ‘Is it okay?’ For years nobody asked for permission, nobody told me they were going to do it, and nobody asked how it made me feel.”

Stressing how times have changed, Kurková shared, “Now we’re in a different time in the fashion industry that’s all about embracing who we are and the imperfections that make us beautiful.”