Hilary Swank: Pregnant at 52, Fighting f...

Hilary Swank has built a career playing people who refuse to back down, from Boys Don’t Cry to Million Dollar Baby. When Danielle asked her why those stories call to her, she got emotional: “I feel like I’m an underdog. I love the outsiders, and I love rooting for them.” Now the two-time Oscar winner is rooting for every parent standing in a store aisle, trying to figure out what’s actually in the products they bring home. When Hilary was preparing to become a mom, she started reading labels and couldn’t stop. She found toxins in diapers, heavy metals in prenatal vitamins, and “healthy” brands that weren’t healthy at all. So she testified before California lawmakers, partnered with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), and helped pass a law requiring diaper companies to disclose their ingredients. Then she showed up to talk about it, pregnant with baby number three. Hilary and Danielle talk about the 1% companies won’t disclose, why she hangs her head out of taxi windows to escape air fresheners, the pregnancy Cheetos she couldn’t bring herself to eat, and her advice for any woman thinking about having kids later in life: there are no shoulds. As Hilary puts it, “You can’t unknow what you learn.” After this conversation, you won’t want to. In this episode:

• The “healthy” brands that aren’t healthy at all + why Hilary says greenwashing scared her more than the toxins themselves.
• What she told California lawmakers after learning her prenatal vitamins could contain heavy metals.
• The 1% problem: why “99% natural” means nothing.
• What’s in a diaper your baby wears 24/7 
• The everyday habits she’s sworn off: why she won’t use hand dryers, touch receipts, or sit in a cab with a pine tree air freshener.
• The pregnancy craving she gave up in the store aisle after reading the label. (RIP, Cheetos.)
• Her most honest advice for women thinking about having kids later in life.
• The one piece of parenting advice she gives everyone
• How her twins reacted when she told them a baby was coming, and what they now tell strangers’ babies in restaurants.
• Why the two-time Oscar winner still calls herself an underdog, and why it made her emotional to say it.
• The Million Dollar Baby moment when she thought, “It’s never going to be this great again.”
• The surprising reason she said yes to Yellowjackets, and the one thing she’s nervous about.
• The least Hollywood thing about her.

Follow Hilary on Instagram here.

Read More About The Environmental Working Group (EWG) here.

Book Rec: How To Deal With Your ___ So Your Kids Don't Have To by Eli Harwood

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