Lauren Alaina Feels the ‘Most Confident’ She Ever Has While Pregnant After Recovering from Eating Disorder (Exclusive)

Lauren Alaina is feeling like the best version of herself ahead of the birth of her daughter.

The country star, 30, tells PEOPLE at the Variety Power of Women Event in Nashville on Thursday, May 1, that she is in a positive head space that has left her both “confident” and “empowered,” due to the combined factors of her pregnancy and overcoming her body images issues, including bulimia in her teens when she was on American Idol.

“I honestly believe that being pregnant is the most confident and empowered I’ve ever felt, because of what my body is doing,” Alaina, who’s due in late May, explains. “I struggled with an eating disorder for a really long time. I’ve spoken out about that quite a bit. And the way that I appreciate and love my body now, knowing what it can do, has changed everything for me.”

She adds, “I know it’s going to be a journey to get my quote ‘body back,’ but I’m not even worried about that because I’ve got a beautiful little girl coming. I’m going to teach her that she’s perfect and beautiful in every way, and I think she’s going to teach me that about myself too.”

Alaina further notes that her forthcoming daughter is “the most important woman in my life right now” and considers the weight of motherhood “impactful.”

“I’m still feeling great. I’m nine months pregnant today, so I’m very close. I’m going to get to meet her very soon,” she shares of her excitement for the big day.

Alaina revealed she was expecting exclusively to PEOPLE after teasing her pregnancy in her “These Kind of Women” music video, which premiered in January.

“[I didn’t know] I can love something that I haven’t even really held yet. I feel the baby inside me, and it’s kicking me and doing all of the things. It’s like I was the Grinch or something, and my heart grew,” she noted at the time.

Alaina also candidly revealed during the same interview that the forthcoming bundle of joy has been a blessing for her extended family after Alaina’s father died in July 2024. (She also lost her stepfather, with whom she was close, in 2018.)

“I do think that my dad passed away and got a stair up in heaven and was like, ‘Hey, we got to work something out down there to send the family something good.’ And it has been such an unexpected blessing,” she shared. “We obviously still talk about and are dealing with the grief of my dad, but this baby has healed a lot of that for us … like it’s a little piece of my dad that will live on.”