Actress Mo Bimpe has responded to the backlash that followed her disclosure about being excluded from baby showers, children’s birthday parties and other child-related gatherings before she became a mother.
Bimpe addressed the criticism in a statement shared on her Instagram page on Tuesday, saying she spoke about the experience because it was hers to tell.
The actress, who recently became a mother of triplets, said she did not want other people to define or interpret an experience she personally went through.
According to her, the situation also taught her an important lesson about kindness and the danger of assuming what another person can or cannot cope with.
Bimpe said she has since received numerous messages from women who have experienced similar forms of exclusion.
She described the stories reaching her as painful, particularly because they reflect struggles that many women may be dealing with privately.
Rather than deciding for others whether an event would be difficult for them to attend, the actress urged people to extend invitations and allow individuals to make their own choices.
Her message was that inclusion should come before assumptions.
Bimpe wrote that people should be invited, contacted and included, while leaving them to determine what they are emotionally prepared to handle.
“We don’t always know what someone is carrying, but we can always choose compassion, inclusion, and thoughtfulness,” she said.
She also urged people to stop making decisions on behalf of others based on assumptions about their circumstances.
For Bimpe, giving people the freedom to choose whether they want to attend an event preserves their dignity and prevents them from feeling deliberately shut out.
She concluded her message with a word of encouragement to anyone going through a difficult period, expressing hope that they would not be made to feel as though they did not belong.
Her comments have placed the focus beyond her personal experience, drawing attention to the broader emotional impact of excluding people from social gatherings because of assumptions about their reproductive or family circumstances.
