Jerika Ejercito Sends Powerful Message To Moms: 'Fight For Self Worth'

As beautiful as pregnancy is, 40 weeks of working hard to nurture a baby in the womb could definitely take its toll on a woman’s self — both in body and mind. No wonder many women who just gave birth often go through a period where they feel inadequate or lost. And that’s just for one pregnancy. What more three?

Mom of four Jerika Ejercito made a surprising revelation about her pregnancies in her latest Instagram post, which she calls her “Declaration of Love”. The daughter of former Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and former actress Laarni Enriquez opened up about her internal struggles as a woman and a mother. 

In her post, she shared that despite her happy facade, she has always struggled with her self-image even at a young age.

“Being extremely self-critical was my norm. My internal monologue escalated to a degree that I could make myself cry,” she wrote.

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When she became pregnant with her first child in 2014 with then-partner Bernard Palanca, “the changes in my body were overwhelming, so overwhelming that I isolated myself for 2 years..enslaved by my crippling internal monologues,” she added. She named their son Isaiah.

In August 2017, Jerika married Spanish triathlete Miquel Aguilar Garcia.

Come January 2018, she gave birth to twins Daniel and Michael.

Exactly a year later, in January 2019, Jerika announced on Instagram that she was again on the family way.

Baby Moises was born on July 13, 2019.

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“Here I am today after 2 back to back pregnancies, 8 months apart and the first being a twin pregnancy. I should be hiding under a rock for the next 2-3 years until I find a semblance of my ‘old self’.

“But this time I chose to fight, fight for self love, fight for self worth..I chose to fight for myself,” Jerika wrote in her latest post.

Jerika sends a powerful message to other moms who also fear exposing their vulnerable selves:

“There is greater power in vulnerability because humility takes place and meaningful connections begin to form,” she said.

She also sets an example for women to not be too hard on themselves, as she is learning to do.

“This is a start..I have a long way to go and that is ok. I still have off days and that’s ok. I had lots of help from my friends to pull this off and that is ok too.

“Wherever you are in your self love journey just keep going, you are ok momma.”

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