Beyonce gets very real about the sacrifices and the hard work that went into getting ready to perform again.
In her new Netflix documentary, Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé, Queen Bey takes fans inside the long hours of rehearsals, strenuous workouts and strict diet she endured ahead of her historic April 2018 performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Beyonce was the first black woman ever to headline the event, and it also marked the first time she had performed since giving birth to her and JAY-Z's twins, Sir and Rumi, on June 13, 2017.
The 37-year-old singer is quick to admit that it didn't come as easy as it had in the past to put on a big show now that she is a mother of three.
"It's my first time back home on the stage after giving birth. I'm creating my own homecoming and it's hard," she confides. "There were days that I thought I'd never be the same. I'd never be the same physically. My strength and endurance would never be the same."
Beyonce reveals that she weighed 218 pounds the day she gave birth to the twins, and had set some very hard goals for herself to achieve before Coachella.
During one of her first rehearsals for the big show, she declares, "And eventually, I want to be able to do SoulCycle, the stairs and rehearsal in the same day."
"A lot of the choreography is about feeling," she says over footage of herself rehearsing dance moves. "So it's not as technical, it's your own personality that brings it to life. And that's hard when you don't feel like yourself."
She further admits, "I had to rebuild my body from cut muscles. It took me a while to feel confident and ... give it my own personality."
The documentary goes on to show her at the gym trying her best to keep up. "In the beginning, there were so many muscle spasms and just internally, my body was not connected. My mind was not there," she confesses. "My mind wanted to be with my children. What people don't see is the sacrifice."
"It's not like before, when I could rehearse 15 hours straight," she later adds. "I have children, I have a husband, I have to take care of my body."
As for her diet during this time, footage shows Beyonce eating an apple as she shares, "In order for me to meet my goals, I'm limiting myself to no bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol -- and I'm hungry."
While Queen Bey made it happen, she's not so sure she'd ever do it again. "I definitely pushed myself further than I knew I could and I learned a very valuable lesson," she admits. "I will never, never push myself that far again."
In one scene, Beyonce excitedly tries on an old costume and even FaceTimes JAY-Z to tell him that it fits. "This is actually a huge accomplishment, because I never thought I'd get back into my old costume and I'm actually in it. I can still move," she quips. "I still have a ways to go, but this makes me feel good. I've been sacrificing and working hard -- huge, huge, huge accomplishment. Yay!"
The incredibly candid documentary also has Beyonce sharing how she's changed since becoming a mother. "I just feel like I'm just a new woman in a new chapter of my life and I'm not even trying to be who I was," she confides. "It's so beautiful that children do that to you."
Here's more on the highly anticipated Homecoming:
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