“My Children Will Love Who They Want To Love.” Beyoncé reveals in stunning Vogue spread

The world was blessed on Monday when the prestigious September issue of fashion magazine, Vogue, dropped featuring megastar Beyoncé as its cover star.

The notoriously private musician, who stopped giving interviews and featuring on magazines since 2015, told writer Clover Hope about motherhood, body positivity and opening doors for black people.

US Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, gave Beyoncé full editorial control of her appearance in the September issue, which is the magazine’s most important of the year. And the star used her influence to commission 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell to photograph her. The Atlanta native became the first black photographer to shoot the cover in the magazine’s 126-year history.

In the shoot, Beyoncé poses wearing very little makeup and no hair extensions or wigs, a decision she says was deliberate.

“I think it’s important for women and men to see and appreciate the beauty in their natural bodies. That’s why I stripped away the wigs and hair extensions and used little makeup for this shoot,” she says.

The multiple Grammy award winning artiste also opened up about the dramatic birth of her twins Rumi and Sir, who were born in early 2017. Beyoncé had to undergo an emergency cesarean section with doctors ordering her on a month’s bed rest afterwards.

“My health and my babies’ health were in danger, so I had an emergency C-section. We spent many weeks in the NICU (intensive care unit),” she reveals. “I was in survival mode and did not grasp it all until months later. Today I have a connection to any parent who has been through such an experience.”

Beyoncé revealed that she felt pressured to lose her baby weight after the birth of her first child, Blue Ivy, in 2012. She forced herself to lose the weight within three months and even went on a ‘mini-tour’ to make sure she lost it.

“Looking back, that was crazy,” she says.

But the second time around, she decided to embrace her post-baby body.

“I was 218 pounds the day I gave birth to Rumi and Sir… To this day my arms, shoulders, breasts, and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it. I think it’s real. Whenever I’m ready to get a six-pack, I will go into beast zone and work my ass off until I have it. But right now, my little FUPA and I feel like we are meant to be,” she says.

As proven when hiring Mitchell to shoot the cover, Beyoncé wants to work to create opportunities for black people. She makes the reader think about the great artistes the world may have missed out on such as Nina Simone and Etta James if people hadn’t given them opportunities to kick start their careers.

“When I first started, 21 years ago, I was told that it was hard for me to get onto covers of magazines because black people did not sell. Clearly that has been proven a myth,” she says. “Not only is an African American on the cover of the most important month for Vogue, this is the first ever Vogue cover shot by an African American photographer.”

Beyoncé also extends that philosophy to her children, saying she wants to be a good role model for them.

“As the mother of two girls, it’s important to me that they see themselves too—in books, films, and on runways. It’s important to me that they see themselves as CEOs, as bosses, and that they know they can write the script for their own lives—that they can speak their minds and they have no ceiling. They don’t have to be a certain type or fit into a specific category. They don’t have to be politically correct, as long as they’re authentic, respectful, compassionate, and empathetic. They can explore any religion, fall in love with any race, and love who they want to love.”

The singer, who revealed a rare photo (below) of her twins last month, also wants the same things for her son, Sir.

“I want the same things for my son. I want him to know that he can be strong and brave but that he can also be sensitive and kind. I want my son to have a high emotional IQ where he is free to be caring, truthful, and honest. It’s everything a woman wants in a man, and yet we don’t teach it to our boys.

“I hope to teach my son not to fall victim to what the internet says he should be or how he should love. I want to create better representations for him so he is allowed to reach his full potential as a man, and to teach him that the real magic he possesses in the world is the power to affirm his own existence.”

Click HERE for the full interview.