Emily Seebohm felt ‘rushed’ into having kids. Three years on, she’s setting her own timeline

Exclusive: Looking back on her journey to motherhood, Australian Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm, 34, has two regrets: that she felt rushed, and that she was so hard on her own body during pregnancy and postpartum.

The retired swimmer welcomed son Sampson in September 2023 and struggled with the physical changes she experienced leading up to his birth.

“It stopped me having a lot of love for what my body was able to create and do,” she told nine.com.au.

“I never actually got any maternity photos, I didn’t post photos of my belly, I didn’t do any of that.

“I missed the opportunity to celebrate what I had, and now that’s gone.”

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After years of strictly controlled diets and exercise regimens, Seebohm was used to being totally in control of her body as an athlete.

Losing that control was terrifying, and it only got worse after Sampson arrived.

“I put so much pressure on feeling like I had to bounce back into this Olympic body that I used to have,” Seebohm said.

“Even when you spoke to people, they were like ‘when you breastfeed the weight just falls off’ and that didn’t happen for me. It felt like a slap in the face.”

It took about three years for the three-time Olympic gold medallist to accept her postpartum body, and that has made her hesitant to go through it all again.

That, and the pressure society puts on women to have all their kids before turning 35 (Seebohm will be 35 in June).

“It actually makes me sad because when I had Sampson my doctor was like, ‘You better hurry if you want baby two and three,’” she recalled.

“I was like, why? Why should we have to hurry? That’s probably half the reason why I’m co-parenting; because I felt I was rushed [into motherhood] by society.”

Seebohm shares Sampson with her ex-fiance Ryan Gallagher, of Married at First Sight fame.

They met in 2022 while competing on The Challenge Australia, were engaged by early 2023, and welcomed their son later that year. They called off their engagement in 2025.

Seebohm confirmed she and Gallagher continue to co-parent Sampson, though she prefers to keep the details private.

“Of course everyone wants to know the ins and outs of it because it’s interesting to people, and a lot of people deal with these same situations too,” she said.

“I share what I can, but I feel like there’s definitely things that should not be shared. And I have a level of respect for Sampson and, obviously, his dad.”

After three years of motherhood and nearly two of co-parenting, Seebohm would love to say that it always comes easy now.

Unfortunately, it would be a lie.

Some days are incredibly hard, and the parenting challenges Seebohm faces seem to change with every new stage of Sampson’s development.

“Each chapter has been just as hard as the one before,” she admitted.

She strives to be honest about that with her nearly 150,000 combined Instagram and TikTok followers, even when it’s not glamorous.

Especially when it’s not glamorous.

“Recently, I posted a photo from when I gave birth to Sampson, and it wasn’t my favourite photo, and I didn’t really love myself in that photo,” Seebohm said.

“I think it’s important to share things like that because not everything is perfect, and things don’t go the way you think they’re going to go, or they don’t feel the way that they’re supposed to feel ... and that’s normal.”

There are days when the pressures of motherhood have Seebohm longing for the routine and rigour of her athletic career – then Sampson will smile up at her, and every difficult moment is suddenly worth it.

Motherhood has changed her in ways she never could have expected, but seeing her little boy grow and learn and even start to hold his own in conversations is a constant source of joy.

She loves being Sampson’s mum, but that’s not all she is.

Seebhom also does content creation, TV work, is dating new beau Brandon Caust, and has a busy personal life.

It’s a lot to juggle, so she’s always looking for ways to save time on boring daily tasks at home, which is why she on as a brand partner for Aiper.

The smart pool and yard technology brand’s pool skimmer and cleaner are probably the only reason her pool is ever clean.

“It goes over my pool on its own timer, which is something that I can’t remember to do because I’m just constantly going from thing, to thing, to thing,” she said.

Seebohm can’t actually remember the last time she actually cleaned a pool herself – despite spending the better part of the last 20 years in the water.

“I never really cleaned a pool before I got in one, so it’s nice to not have to worry about it.”

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