Annie Leibovitz, Demi Moore, 1991, photograph, Cover of Vanity Fair.
Despite its fame through mass publication in an August 1991 issue of Vanity Fair, the photograph of Demi Moore, pregnant with her second child was not originally intended for widespread circulation. The photographer, Annie Leibovitz was tasked with portraying Moore’s pregnant belly in a skin-tight dress for the cover image – deemed a risqué photo shoot as pregnant celebrities were almost always photographed from the chest up. Originally, the nude images of Moore were taken exclusively for the couple’s discretion. Upon viewing the final nude images of Moore, editor Tina Brown was instantly compelled to publish one as the cover. Demi Moore was obviously comfortable with her pregnant body, having set up 3 cameras to record the entirety of the birth of her first child, and excitedly agreed to allow the private photo to be made public.
While some people considered the photo a “liberation” for pregnant bodies, others labeled it as scandalous and pornographic. In any case, Demi Moore reclaimed pregnant bodies as owning sexuality and, through mass media, shared this ownership. She shattered expectations of the visible, public pregnant body and paved the way for an alternative understanding of pregnancy in the 21st century.