Scheana Shay wanted to share her postpartum-body journey on 'Vanderpump Rules': '99% of people don't just bounce back into their pre-baby clothes'

• "Vanderpump Rules" star Scheana Shay gave birth to her daughter, Summer Moon, in April 2021.
• She began filming season nine of the show three days after getting home from the hospital.

Scheana Shay began filming season nine of "Vanderpump Rules" just three days after getting home from the hospital following the birth of her daughter in April 2021, she told Insider.

"It was challenging," Shay said. "I was hospitalized for five extra days [after the birth]. So it was like a week after giving birth, but three days I've been home, and we started filming," she added.

Viewers saw as Shay dealt with anxiety about "bouncing back" after her daughter, Summer Moon, was born.

"I've got body-image issues," she told Insider. "Most people, 99% of people, don't just bounce back into their pre-baby clothes a week after they give birth," she added. "So I definitely wanted to share that part of my journey because I knew it could help other moms out there."

Shay said she always wanted to speak out about her post-baby journey, just like how she opened up about having a miscarriage on her podcast, "Scheananigans," in June 2020.

"Because I enjoy when people reach out to me and just say, 'Oh my God, you telling your story helped me so much,' with, whether it was getting through their miscarriage, opening up about their miscarriage, dealing with their postpartum anxiety or body-image issues," she said.

She added, "So I really wanted to put my entire story out there, the good, the bad, all of it."

Even if she felt insecure at the time of filming, watching it back, Shay is proud of how she looked — and most of all, is glad she decided to be real about her life.

"If I still [had] a bit of a bump when we start filming, I [didn't] care," she said. "I was like, 'I'm wearing a tight dress to my birthday dinner and I don't care what I look like in it.' And looking back, I mean, I was like, 'Wow, for just having a baby, I felt good.' ... But no matter if I was feeling good ... I wanted to put that out there because that's real," she said.