Nicole Trunfio on the cover of Elle Australia with her son Zion. (Photo: Elle Australia)
It started out as a regular cover shoot. Gorgeous model Nicole Trunfio posing for pictures for Elle Australia showcasing clothes by top designers like Prada. But when Trunfio took a break from posing to breastfeed her baby boy Zion Clark, editors noticed the sweet mother and child moment. “This wasn’t a contrived situation: Zion needed a feed, Trunfio gave it to him, and when we saw how beautiful they looked we simply moved her onto the set,” Elle’s editor-in-chief Justine Cullen wrote in her editor’s letter. “It was a completely natural moment that resulted in a powerful picture.”
The photo by Georges Antoni is now on the cover of the subscriber editions of Elle Australia. When Trunfio saw the picture she told Cullen how much the image moved her. “When I saw the cover of me breastfeeding, which was unplanned and just natural, I teared up and thought, ‘Wow this is such a special moment where my worlds have collided’.“
The image has struck a chord on social media, with the hashtag#normalizebreastfeeding taking off. It’s especially powerful at a time when women publicly breastfeeding their children is sometimes seen as something that should be hidden away. Trunfio looks radiant, happy, relaxed. The image captures a beautiful, everyday motherhood moment (except of course the ultra-glamorous aspect, breastfeeding can be painful, exhausting, and messy). “I obviously don’t look like this or wear [this] while I am breastfeeding, but this stands for all women out there, whether you breastfeed or not, we gave birth, we are women, we are mothers,” Trunfio posted on her Facebook page.
However, while Trunfio praised Elle for making a bold, “encouraging, positive, and healthy statement,” the magazine is under fire for sending the issue only to subscribers instead of selling it on the newsstand. The newsstand picture features the model holding her son, but she’s covered up and wearing a dress. It does seem curious that the magazine should celebrate openly breastfeeding only to hide it from newsstands.
Trunfio isn’t the only model to pose while breastfeeding. Miranda Kerr has posted several images of herself feeding her son Flynn.
Miranda Kerr posting a picture with her son Flynn. (Photo: Instagram)
Natalia Vodianova posed nude and breastfeeding in a gorgeous black and white image.
Natalia Vodianova posing while breastfeeding. (Photo: Instagram)
Gisele Bündchen posted this photo breastfeeding to her Instagram account. (Photo: Instagram)
And Gisele Bündchen, who is an outspoken advocate of breastfeeding, posted a behind-the-scenes shot of her getting ready for a shoot while with her baby at her breast.
“There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than motherhood,” Trunfio stated on Facebook. “The last thing I want to do is be controversial, so please take this for what it is, let us#normalizebreastfeeding there is nothing worse than a mother that is judged for feeding her hungry child in public. #weareonlyhuman.”
