Pete Davidson’s Girlfriend Explains Controversial Parenting Choice

Model Elsie Hewitt, the girlfriend of Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson, detailed the logic behind her decision not to breastfeed the couple’s baby—a personal choice often met with judgment, scrutiny, and even contempt.

Davidson, 32, and Hewitt, 29, welcomed their daughter, Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson, on December 12, 2025.

In an essay for Elle magazine called “My Decision Not to Breastfeed,” Hewitt revealed that the pregnancy was both unintentional and extremely difficult.

The English model had been dating Davidson for under a year when their baby was born, and had only made their relationship public in March 2025. Around that time, Hewitt received a life-changing diagnosis.

“I lived through years of chronic pain, dismissal, and misunderstanding that was finally diagnosed as stage 4 endometriosis,” Hewitt wrote.

Endometriosis is a chronic condition in which tissue similar to a person’s uterine lining grows outside of their uterus, often causing debilitating pain, heavy and irregular menstrual periods, and, in some cases, ovarian cysts.

The pregnancy came shortly after she underwent laparoscopic excision surgery.

“I had been looking forward to a stretch of my life where my body felt like mine again—where I wasn’t constantly managing pain or advocating to be believed,“ she wrote. ”Pregnancy, in all honesty, completely derailed that. And I really struggled.”

“For the most part, I hated being pregnant,” Hewitt wrote, further detailing her difficult pregnancy: “I was deeply uncomfortable. I was constantly sick, exhausted, and in pain.”

Breastfeeding, she wrote, was presented to her as “the gold standard,” while formula feeding was viewed as a “safe alternative that sits beneath breastfeeding.”

“I was aware, even before pregnancy, of the quiet shame attached to formula feeding,” she recalled. “There is inherent guilt in choosing not to breastfeed… That guilt doesn’t disappear simply because formula is safe, healthy, and nutritionally complete.”

“When it came time to decide how I would feed my baby, I weighed my mental health, my recovery, and the kind of mother I want to be,” she wrote, adding her wish that both she and Davidson could be responsible for feeding their daughter.

“Once she arrived, I didn’t want to remain her sole lifeline in a way that would further deplete me, hinder my recovery, and leave little room for feeding to be shared between my partner and me,” Hewitt explained.

While Hewitt made her decision to formula feed prior to Scottie Rose’s birth, a new diagnosis meant the choice was taken out of her hands altogether.

“Turns out, my body had already made its own decision. After birth, I developed mastitis almost immediately,” Hewitt wrote. “I spent hours trying to express even a drop [of milk], and nothing would come.”

Mastitis refers to the inflammation of breast tissue, typically in postpartum patients, which can cause swelling, pain, and redness and may involve infection. For this, Hewitt was prescribed antibiotics.

“I spent days icing my boobs, watching my body produce something I couldn’t give my baby even if I had decided I was going to breastfeed,” she wrote, adding that the experience gave her “conflicting feelings.”

“I had decided not to breastfeed—which I was already feeling guilty about—but my body was producing milk. I was grieving an experience that I chose not to have,” she wrote.

Despite the pain and stress she endured during and after her pregnancy, Hewitt stated she felt “fortunate” that no one, including Davidson, pressured her into breastfeeding.

“The most important thing to me was doing what is best for my baby. I will always do what is best for her,” she wrote, reminding readers that every situation is unique.

“Feeding choices deserve more nuance and less moral hierarchy,” she added, writing that formula feeding was “the right choice” for her personally.

“A nourished baby and a mentally healthy mother can and should coexist. If choosing not to breastfeed can allow a mother to receive support through a season where the physical and emotional burden already falls disproportionately onto her, she has every right to make that choice without second-guessing it,” she wrote.

“This can serve as a reminder to anyone reading this, as well as a reminder to myself,” she concluded. “You do not have to sacrifice your well-being to prove your love.”