After dominating multiple runways during New York Fashion Week, it only made sense that Teyana Taylor would take advantage of press opportunities to promote the things she’s working on, including new music. However, what’s currently on the minds of all the people who’ve seen her sashay up and down the catwalk over the last week is that showstopping body of hers. While speaking to Ebro in the Morning, Taylor talked about her fitness routine and the reason she made her popular fitness program, Fade2Fitness, which she says provides the secret to her toned figure: intense dancing.
Getty
“It’s fun! Because I actually don’t work out. I would be lying if I said I do go to the gym,” Taylor said. “I honestly feel as a woman and as a mom, that the gym is very overwhelming for me. I’m not really trying to lift weights or do all that extra sh-t. So dancing has played a big part. Dancing for my life has really kept my body in shape. I toured with Chris [Brown] ’til I was like five, six months pregnant. So I’m jumping around, all of the stuff I did at Phillip Plein, I’m doing all these things five, six months pregnant. So it was like, once Junie popped out, and she came a month early, I was right back down.”
But Taylor says it’s not just a “genetics” thing when it comes to her muscles. The 26-year-old shared that since she was young she’s pushed her body to the limits to execute innovative moves not only on the dance floor but even on a skateboard.
“I was skateboarding, I was riding BMX bikes, and I never stopped trying until I got it,” she said. “So if I was doing handstands on skateboards — I’ve always done stuff that was like over the top because I wanted to get it. I never wanted to just be in one place or do anything regular. So even my dancing was at a whole other level. I’m naturally strong. That’s why I’m scared to work out because I already got brolic arms and it’s just, that’s just too much for me. But I wanted to create a dance workout where moms and women and men, period, could feel like they could just do it at home and you don’t have to go to the gym and feel insecure. A lot of people don’t even want to leave the house. So I wanted to make it to where you’re able to get your workout in and have guaranteed results.”
And while most people felt as though Taylor’s body was stronger than ever after giving birth, she said it went through a major change that she had to rectify in order to be comfortable. The star revealed that she had a breast reduction surgery to find some relief after her breasts grew to a double E after having her 1-year-old.
“They were so heavy,” she said. “When I did the Kanye fashion show they were just bigger than me. And I was just like, ‘This is just too much.’ I took ’em down. I took ’em all the way down. The thing about it was, it was all excess, just tissue and milk. It was so much stuff and I was just like, ‘This gotta go.’ But I’ve been much better. My breasts are much smaller and back to where they used to be when I first came out. It was just like, this is perfect. However, it left a nasty scar. But one thing I want to give to mothers when I look at that scar is, this is birth. I’m not upset.”
“When I look at these scars I don’t like at them like, ‘Ugh’ because I’m blessed,” she continued. “I’m not gonna front, I thought that my stomach was going to get ruined. I didn’t know what to expect, which is the reason I didn’t tell the label for a long time. I didn’t tell the label, I didn’t tell them when I was on tour. I was thugging it out because I didn’t want to be treated differently. But it happened and I was blessed because within six days, the six-pack was back. I didn’t really have to get a reduction but that’s what I needed.”
The only person who didn’t really understand the need to downsize was her husband, Iman Shumpert.
“He enjoyed the big boobs because picking them up? Once you pick them up they look good,” she said. “But I wouldn’t have been able to pull off the half the things I pulled off with having to carry my daughter because let’s be clear, my daughter was 13 pounds a month after she was born.”
Despite all the positive commentary she hears about her body, the singer wants to make it clear that she struggles to love her body sometimes just like every other woman. She said that her breast reduction and nipple reconstruction had a whole lot to do with the fact that she just wasn’t comfortable with the way her boobs looked and felt. Thankfully though, she can look back on such body image struggles with humor.
“I feel like moms look at me and think, ‘It’s just genetics,’ ‘Her body is so perfect.’ But I have scars just like you,” Taylor said. “I went from having, not trying to be cocky, but I went from the age of 15 and 16 always having the perfect boobs to having to look at myself and see the scars. Literally, my nipples were this big *holds up large circle with hand*. I’ve always had nip-slips because it wasn’t necessarily a nip slip. It was literally just my areolas were so big, it didn’t matter if I just wore a v-neck, it was always still areola. Iman would get mad and say, ‘Babe, tuck your nipple in,’ like, ‘Ni–a I can’t!’ So for real, I even had to get my whole nipple reconstructed. But I’m back to a D.”
Check out her chat about her body and breast reduction surgery starting at the 13:25 mark below:
