Beyoncé’s Homecoming documentary revealed new details about the singer’s difficult pregnancy with twins, Rumi and Sir.
In the new Netflix special, centered around the singer’s iconic headlining performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival, Beyoncé revealed in voiceovers about the struggles she went through while carrying the twins — including preeclampsia.
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“I was supposed to do Coachella the year prior, but I got pregnant unexpectedly,” the singer said. “It ended up being twins, which was even more of a surprise. My body went through more than I knew it could.”
The Grammy winner, who was “218 pounds the day” she gave birth, Us Weekly reports, continued: “I had an extremely difficult pregnancy. I had high blood pressure. I developed toxemia, preeclampsia. And in the womb, one of my babies’ heartbeat paused a few times, so I had to get an emergency C-section.”
Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z welcomed the twins in June 2017, four months after announcing they were expecting.
“We would like to share our love and happiness,” the “Hold Up” singer captioned an Instagram photo of her baby bump at the time. “We have been blessed two times over. We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes.”
On Homecoming, Beyoncé opened up about the challenges of getting back to rehearsals for the Coachella performance.
“And you know, a lot of the choreography is about feeling, so it’s not as technical, it’s your own personality that brings it to life. That’s hard when you don’t feel like yourself,” she admitted in a voiceover. “I had to rebuild my body from cut muscles. It took me a while to feel confident enough to… give my own personality.”
“In the beginning, there were so many muscle spasms and just internally, my body was not connected. My mind was not there. My mind wanted to be with my children,” she continued. “What people don’t see is the sacrifice.”
“It’s my first time home back home on the stage after giving birth; I’m creating my own homecoming, and it’s hard,” Beyoncé also said, PEOPLE writes. “There were days that I thought I’d never be the same. I’d never be the same physically, my strength and endurance would never be the same.”
Along with the full Coachella performance, Homecoming includes home video and never-before-seen photos of some of the singer’s intimate family moments, including Jay-Z meeting their newborn twins for the first time and a rare clip of daughter Blue Ivy singing.
The premiere of the documentary also came with the surprise release of Homecoming: The Live Album.
