Blake Lively covers the new issue of ALLURE in advance of the release of The Age Of Adaline. That means she’s probably not covering VOGUE with the baby, which is what I was expecting. I mean I thought for sure, non? So I was wrong.

But motherhood is on the table. It’s Blake’s first acting promotion in a long time and her first after James’s arrival. So how is GOOP Jr doing?

Well, on this occasion, she’s actually better at answering those “balancing work and home” questions than her lifestyle predecessor. I quite like how she’s phrased the response:

"Most of the things I do are all-consuming, but somehow I find a way to do it all," Lively says. "But it's dangerous to dilute that to a catchphrase." She continues: "Having it all could be having a happy, healthy family, and you could be a mom who stays at home, and that is the most admirable thing you could do. Or it could be having a profession that you really believe in, and not having a family, and doing what fulfills you." What's risky is reducing anyone's lifestyle choice to a sound bite, she adds: "If it's not a part of a conversation with someone face-to-face, those bites are why women tear each other apart or why the media will tear people apart."

Um. Blake actually included me in that statement. And I have to tell you, I appreciated it. I also appreciate the subtle difference between “doing it all” and “having it all”. DOING is an active, tangible word. “Do” is a lot more democratic than “have”.

Where she loses me is when she talks about “privacy” and the way she and Ryan Reynolds decided to confirm their pregnancy because the paparazzi are so invasive. Like when they shot her (click here for a refresher) frolicking in the meadow, holding up a new phone. Or when they shot her and Ryan, leaving Nespresso, exclusively. Click here for a refresher:

"That was my way of owning that moment. I can't be someone like Beyoncé and be like—" she mimes throwing open a jacket and showing off her belly, a reference to Beyoncé's onstage announcement of her pregnancy at the VMAs in 2011. "But it was important for us. It was a struggle, because we want to keep our privacy, but we also don't want our lives to be exploited by other people. So we did it simply; it was a quiet way, an elegant way."

Serious question: are we allowed to compliment ourselves on being “elegant”?

Click here to see more of Blake in Allure and to read her thoughts on breastfeeding.