'Riverdale' Actress Vanessa Morgan Gets Tattoo to Honor Her C-Section Scar Journey

Vanessa Morgan Riverdale Actress Caesarean section c-section American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

By Camille Hutchison , Parent Herald Jul 27, 09:01 am

A year ago, Vanessa Morgan gave birth to her son River via C-section, and she is honoring that empowering journey by getting herself a tattoo on her C-section scar.

The "Riverdale" actress had the word "kintsugi," a Japanese term for embracing flaws and imperfections, tattoed by tattoo artist Noah Lee.

Morgan said that it means you're more beautiful for having been broken and that it was the word that perfectly represents her C-section. She feels more beautiful for having gone through the surgery and having the scar, per ABC News.

Embracing real skin stories

Delivering her baby via C-section was not the birth story that Morgan wanted, as she had dreamed of having a natural birth. Despite having a hard time recovering, she still found what she had gone through as beautiful.

Learning to embrace herself entirely led her to get a tattoo and partner with Gold Bond for the brand's new campaign, "My Scar, My Story," intended to uplift others and embrace their real skin stories.

The point of this campaign is to encourage people to tell their real skin stories and "that our skin is a canvas and any imperfections on our skin are beautiful. It is our authentic self," said Morgan.

The Canadian actress hopes her story and the Gold Bond's campaign will encourage other people to tell their real skin stories and share their authentic selves.

"We're such a filtered social media society right now, and the standards are so high," the actress said.

"So I feel like if a hashtag like this, and a campaign like this can help, and us speaking out about experiences where we were warriors, scars on our skin and embracing those imperfections ... it'll move us in the right direction to being our authentic selves," the Canadian actress added.

Vanessa Morgan appeared in many television shows and series and was discovered at the age of nine while singing at a festival in California.

The C-section

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a cesarean section is a surgical procedure performed to deliver a baby through the birthing person's abdomen instead of the vagina. It is a procedure that, in a few cases, may be planned and, in others, is done on a more emergency basis if labor is not progressing or if the health of the mother or infant is in danger.

More than 1 million children are birthed via cesarean deliveries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The incision on the skin may be Up-and-down (vertical), in which the incision extends from the belly button to the pubic hairline or across from side-to-side (horizontal) with the incision extending across the pubic hairline. The latter is used most often as it heals well with less bleeding.