Misty Copeland

She must be a witch.

But I'm very grateful for, and I agree wholeheartedly at this point.

But preparing for this performance after having five years off and losing all of my calluses, I had to put something over my toes.

It wasn't a pad.

I mean, I was wearing like a thin paper towel because I didn't have enough time to really build up all of the calluses that I had lost over a lifetime of training by not being in pointe shoes.

But it definitely makes a difference.

Uh-huh.

You know, I couldn't have felt more prepared for labor, you know, by being a ballerina.

I felt so completely emotionally, mentally, and physically prepared to give birth.

And I still don't think that anything compares to Swan Lake.

And I know everyone has very different experiences with childbirth, and there's no way to know what someone else feels.

You know, I really enjoyed giving birth to my son.

Like, yes, it was difficult.

There were some complications that happened.

I almost had a cesarean, but my doctor pushed for me not to do it.

And I ended up giving birth without any pain medication in the end.

But there was something that was so...

familiar to me that I just kind of walked into.

And it was like, oh, I know this feeling of preparation, of mental preparation and kind of preparing yourself for the pain and breathing through the pain and just staying as calm as possible.

That it was so interesting because I hadn't been on stage, you know, in some years and