Kerri Walsh Jennings Poses Naked in Pregnant and Post-Baby Pics for ESPN's Body Issue

Olympic athlete says stripping down after giving birth to third child was “scary as hell”

By Rebecca Macatee Jul 09, 2013 8:17 PMTags
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Kerri Walsh Jennings stripped down for ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue—both during her pregnancy and shortly thereafter!

The 34-year-old, 6-foot, 2-inch Olympic volleyball star had no issue posing naked when she was expecting, but she admitted it was "scary as hell" baring it all shortly after giving birth to daughter Scout on April 6, 2013.

"For the first shoot, I was very pregnant, and that wasn't as scary. I thought it would be, because I was big and rotund when I'm usually the opposite, but it was really comfortable because I felt almost like I was in costume," she explained. "But for the second, I was two and a half months out from having a baby. I'm supposed to be tight and toned and strong, but I have a lot more work to do."

Kerri, who was five weeks pregnant with Scout at the 2012 London Olympics, is also mom to sons Sundance, 3, and Joseph, 4. "My boobs went away; that's the saddest part," she said, when asked how her three pregnancies have affected her body. "But I saw every pregnancy as a time to transform my body, because I was a clean slate. I'm basically a clump of clay, and I mold myself. Now I'm more symmetrical. I have new body awareness. I'm more conscious of my core; that's something I worked hard to get back after each pregnancy."

"But having babies—literally delivering a baby—makes me feel like Wonder Woman," she said. "Everything else seems minor compared to the soul-shaking thing that is labor."

"I'm still a critic of my body—I'm still a woman—but I respect my body more than I have in my life," she admitted. "It's not perfect, but I can't tell you how proud I am of my body."

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But the 158-pound beauty doesn't quite have her body back where she wants it to be. "I can't wait to be back to normal. I've been doing a lot of lunges and squats and step-ups," she said. "Seriously, the last month everything I've done has been focused on my buns."

"Physically, I think my best asset is my tushy, but these days I'm frightened of what I see back there," she admitted. And if she could change something about her body, it would be her chest. "And I might do that down the road, to tell you the truth," she said. "Other than that, I've come to terms with my body and I love it."