KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Under fire over her views on pregnant women, Vivy Yusof today posted an explanation on her Instagram account — saying it had been spun out of context.

Vivy wrote about her current third pregnancy in the New Straits Times (NST), stating that she used to think that skipping work due to pregnancy and morning sickness was a form of weakness.

Among others, she urged pregnant women "not to be the reason why people say pregnant women are weak”, drawing comparisons with her own experiences and how she is managing her own pregnancy.

In her explanation today, Vivy said that instead of reading her article in the entirety of its context, her critics chose to instead zoom in on the particular paragraphs where she narrated about her experience being an employer who could not comprehend issues relating to pregnancy.

"That’s exactly what the article was about if you cared to read on. I said that karma hit me because my third pregnancy now is rather difficult and it made me sympathise with women a lot more.

"Having said that too, the comments are making me out to be a monstrous employer. I feel that’s an unfair statement because any woman or man working at FV will know that I love them and I sympathise in any situation they go through,” Vivy said, using the FV acronym to refer to her company, Fashion Valet, an e-commerce fashion site.

In her post, Vivy went on to explain that she also gives flexible hours for mothers, and a day off every month for them to bond with their child, adding that and "a lot of leeway” is also given for mothers who suffer from any kind of pain, whether pregnant or otherwise.

"I also mentioned that all pregnancies are different and some have to even be hospitalised. I mentioned that we should listen to our bodies and our doctors, but this somehow wasn’t picked up by the nasty commenters.

"There were also comments on me being privileged which I thought had nothing to do with the article. This was just purely personal. If anything, the fact that I’m privileged and wanting to be a strong woman who is trying to get up and go to work, isn’t that a good thing?” Vivy wrote, adding that her commentary was purely intended as a motivation for one another.

On Twitter, several users took to criticising Vivy’s notion about pregnancy, with some using her privileged upbringing as a reason.

Twitter user Zafirah Affendi criticised Vivy for realising that each pregnancy is different eight years after she first became a mother.

"As if these women pretend to be weak to get away from work,” she said, referring to Vivy’s views about her employees taking sick leave during pregnancies.

She also expressed concern that Vivy was in a leadership role and her toxic views about pregnant women impacted some of her employees.

Ahmad Faris Rizal said that Vivy’s comments showed how "disconnected” the elites are from the "real struggles of people even within their workplace.”

Another Twitter user, Husna H, also pointed out that Vivy was speaking from a position of privilege compared to regular working moms.

"Others don’t have maids, helpers and drivers. They have to go through pregnancy doing everything themselves including going to work, take care of kids, and house chores,” she said.