Misty Copeland Opens Up About How Pregnancy Has Changed Her Body: 'Learning to Embrace What Is'

Misty Copeland is speaking candidly about pregnancy.

On Monday, Feb. 10, the famed ballerina, 42, shared multiple snaps of herself on Instagram. The photos show her in the ballet studio and are overlaid with text describing how her body has changed since giving birth.

"Throughout my ballet career, I've had stress fractures to my back, six stress fractures to my tibia, and numerous ankle sprains," Copeland — who made history in 2015 as the first Black woman promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre — wrote.

"I've always had respect for my body, what it's able to do, and what I've been able to push through..." the athlete wrote.

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"But being pregnant and giving birth has given me a whole new found respect for it..." Copeland, who welcomed her first child Jackson with husband Olu Evans, 46, around April 2022, wrote.

"Pregnancy, birth, and time itself have changed my body in ways I never expected, but instead of chasing what was, I'm learning to embrace what is."

She continued her post: "Remember: our bodies are constantly adapting. They hold every challenge we've faced, every step we've taken, and still, they keep showing up for us," Copeland wrote across a fifth and final image showing her training by a bar.

"Embracing what is 💜," she captioned the carousel of photos.

Copeland's post comes after she spoke to PEOPLE about parenthood in January 2023 at an event honoring Jerry Moss, admitting that it had been the "longest" time she'd spent apart from her baby boy.

"It's been incredible. Today was really difficult, leaving him," she said at the time. "It's only been nine months, but it's the best job I've ever had."

The ballerina credited "patience" as her most important parenting tool, explaining, "I think I had patience, but even more so, just to be flexible and have patience."

Related: Misty Copeland Credits Prince for Her Biggest Fashion Successes and Faux Pas: ‘A Little Overwhelming’ (Exclusive)

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Despite allowing cameras to follow her for her 2015 documentary, A Ballerina's Tale, Copeland has kept much of her personal life, including her pregnancy news, out of the public eye.

"My personal life I've really kept pretty private my whole career," Copeland previously told PEOPLE, adding that she was planning to keep her son out of the spotlight as well.

"Definitely with my son, I wouldn't have him probably be on camera for anything," she said. "But when it comes to my career and what I'm doing, I'm really open."

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