Halsey says they felt “treated like a teen mom” during pregnancy

Halsey is comparing their experience being pregnant to a teen mom situation.

In a candid interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Halsey opens up about the struggle of going through a public pregnancy where they were constantly bombarded with derogatory comments. The singer and partner Alev Aydin welcomed their child Ender Ridley Alvin on July 14.

“I’m 26, and I tried very hard for this pregnancy and I’m financially independent, I’m pretty far along in my career, it feels like the right time for me to do it. And I got treated like a teen mom a lot of the times,” she explains.

The singer says that the comments targeting their age and not being married to Alev were damaging to their self-esteem. “It triggered all of these feelings of shame from when I was younger. It triggered a lot of old feelings of shame in me where I was like, ‘How can you have an opinion, that kind of opinion on me making this decision?'” they continue.

Halsey also offered insight into their decision to take a social media break during the pregnancy to ensure the life-changing experience was personal.

“I had to make a choice, especially in my pregnancy, where the girl who’s been the open book for six years, this had to be mine. I was not going to put myself [out there]. The consequences were too high,” the singer says. “The consequences of letting social media stress me out or cause me grief, it’s no longer just me being affected by it. There’s a whole other person whose nervous system is being affected by the status of mine. So I had to make that choice.”

Halsey’s new album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, was released Friday.