Tay Lautner joins Alex Cooper to give an unfiltered account of pregnancy — gaining 12–15 lbs in three weeks during the first trimester due to emetophobia (fear of vomiting), crying naked in front of the mirror not recognizing her body, and receiving the most DMs she's ever gotten when she briefly alluded to that low moment online. Both hosts push back on the social pressure to stay silent about pregnancy struggles and the entitlement people feel to comment on a pregnant woman's body.
Key Moments
Tay Lautner
“I think two things can be true. Like obviously I'm so grateful and excited to be having this baby with like my favorite human in the world, but I don't like what it's doing to my body. Like it's not an enjoyable experience.”
Tay pushes back on the internet pressure to be purely grateful while pregnant, defending the right to acknowledge physical and emotional hardship.
“When I talked about this, and I honestly didn't even like really share much. It was the most like DMs and messages from women I've ever received in my like entire time doing the internet.”
Tay reflects on the overwhelming response when she briefly alluded to her first-trimester low moment on her own podcast.
“I have amophobia and I hate throwing up. Like I have a fear of throwing up. So every time I would get nauseous I would eat. So I never threw up in my first trimester. But every time I was nauseous I would eat. And so I gained like 12 to 15 lbs in like 3 weeks maybe.”
Tay explains the physical reason behind her rapid early weight gain and why she couldn't rely on the usual first trimester experience.
“I literally just like started crying. So, you just don't recognize yourself. And I think we don't talk about this because we're not supposed to talk about the first trimester because you're not supposed to talk about it till you know everything is safe and fine, but then you kind of have amnesia and forget that even happened.”
Tay describes breaking down in front of the mirror while Taylor was in the bathroom with her, and why the first trimester emotional toll goes undiscussed.
“I have never had more people comment on my body so freely than when you're pregnant. And it's either like oh you're carrying well or like oh my gosh don't worry like I gained 20 lbs in my first trimester. So you're like so are you calling me fat?”
Alex describes the social phenomenon of people feeling entitled to openly comment on a pregnant woman's body in ways they wouldn't otherwise.
Tay Lautner is a content creator and podcast host married to actor Taylor Lautner. She has been open about her mental health struggles, including PTSD and depression, and frequently shares personal life updates with her online audience. Tay and Taylor Lautner announced their pregnancy in April 2026, with Tay expecting a baby girl. She and host Alex Cooper are neighbors at a lake house community, adding a personal dimension to this candid conversation.
Takeaways
1
PCOS's irregular cycles mask early pregnancy signs Tay's 40-day cycle due to PCOS meant she was on day 36 — not technically late — when she discovered she was pregnant, only because she happened to check before a microneedling appointment. For women with PCOS, standard 'missed period' pregnancy detection logic breaks down entirely, making opportunistic testing (before procedures, travel, etc.) a more reliable trigger.
2
Emetophobia can silently drive first-trimester weight gain Tay's fear of vomiting (emetophobia) meant she ate every time she felt nauseous instead of getting sick, resulting in 12–15 lbs gained in roughly three weeks. This is an underdiscussed mechanism that can blindside people with the same phobia. It also shows how individual psychology shapes a pregnancy physically in ways no generic advice covers.
3
Telling close friends early reduces miscarriage grief burden Both Tay and Alex chose to tell a small circle of close friends before the standard first-trimester mark, reasoning that if something bad happened, they didn't want to deliver happy and tragic news simultaneously. Having walked through friends' miscarriages from both sides, Tay describes this as an emotionally deliberate — not reckless — choice.
4
First-trimester amnesia silences the hardest stories Tay and Alex both note that women are socially pressured not to share pregnancy news before the 'safe' window, and by the time they do, the worst symptoms have faded and they've mentally moved on. This creates a structural gap where the hardest weeks of pregnancy are almost never publicly documented, leaving subsequent pregnant women completely unprepared.
5
Pregnancy triggers unsolicited body commentary at scale Alex references a viral TikTok observation: pregnant women receive more open commentary on their bodies than at any other point in their lives, often framed as compliments ('you're glowing') that actually highlight weight gain or facial changes. Both hosts describe this as a heightened version of the body scrutiny women already face, made stranger by social permission granted around pregnancy.