Amy Schumer Gets Real About The Importance Of Sharing Our Birth Stories

Amy Schumer’s gift is her ability, and desire, to candidly share the intimate aspects of her life — from body image issues to marriage woes and everything in between.

Lately, her platform has swarmed around motherhood and all that comes with it as she raises her 2-year-old son, Gene, with husband Chris Fischer. Becoming a mother led Schumer to document her difficult pregnancy in a three-part documentary series, Expecting Amy, and now she’s teamed up with model Christy Turlington Burns on a new book, Arrival Stories, which is a collection of essays from 20 women about their childbirth experiences.

The pair compiled stories from actors, athletes, academics, CEOs, writers, small-business owners, birth workers, physicians and activists for the book, which is available April 5.

In an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show Thursday, Schumer said she and her best friends hadn’t really discussed birth with each other and were “burying” their personal journeys.

“As women, we’re taught to not really share that much and so we we’re like, ‘We’re going the other way with it,’” Schumer said of Arrival Stories, “because it’s the talking about it and writing about it that you do start to open yourself up and sharing these stories is what helps each other.”

The introduction to the book reads: “Conception, pregnancy, birth, matching with your baby through adoption, or the period of time after birth can be incredibly difficult, frightening, even traumatic. It can also be joyful and empowering. And it can be all these things at the same time. No matter how it happens, the arrival of a child is a life-altering event. And yet, all too often we keep quiet about or experiences. Why shouldn’t we talk about the beautiful mess of it all?”

Schumer, 40, told Barrymore it’s important for her to mine the value in her own life and put it out in the world in hopes it will help others who may be facing the same ups and downs.

“All this trauma, all these life lessons, these joys — what are we learning from it? And so it’s just as therapeutic for me [to share],” Schumer told Barrymore.

Since Gene’s birth, Schumer has been open about her personal journey as a mother and everything that goes into the postpartum period, the newborn phase and toddlerhood. She shares photos, videos and even memes detailing her every day as a working mother, recently posting a funny snapshot of Gene crawling all over her during a meeting.

“Easy to work with your toddler in the room,” she wrote.

Schumer is set to host the Oscars on Sunday with Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall — and we’re sure no joke will be off the table. Bless her for never letting us down when it comes to keeping it real.