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Trunfio defends breastfeeding frenzy

Nicole Trunfio has spoken out on US TV about her controversial breastfeeding magazine cover.

The WA-raised supermodel caused a stir last week when she revealed she would appear on the front of Elle Australia’s June subscriber issue nursing her baby son Zion.

Far from defending the much-hyped image, Trunfio told hosts on talk show Good Morning America she only thought it was a shame the magazine did not place the photo on its regular retail cover, which instead shows her cradling the little boy while laughing.

“I think it should be something that isn’t a cover more (extra cover), it’s a huge part of being a woman and motherhood,” the 29-year-old said.

Nicole Trunfio on the cover of ELLE Australia with son Zion. Picture: Nicole Trunfio/Instagram

Trunfio added she didn’t think breastfeeding in public should be frowned upon.

“I didn’t think it was going to be such a big deal,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than, as a mother, doing something that’s so necessary like feeding your child and feeling like somebody could have an opinion about it or somebody’s looking at you the wrong way.”

While the glamorous cover shoot was always intended to feature four-month-old Zion, whose father is Trunfio’s rocker fiance Gary Clark Jr, the nursing snap was unplanned. It was only when the Australind beauty paused to feed her son that the photographer decided to capture the tender moment on camera.

“(Zion) was with me on set all day and there were periods I’d take off to feed him and I had on this beautiful outfit and the stylist was like ‘Wow, that looks amazing, let’s move you on set to have this picture taken’,” Trunfio said.

The cover quickly stirred up debate after Elle released it online last week, with some claiming breastfeeding should not appear on the front of a magazine and others insisting the image should have made the version that sits on stands in supermarkets. Joining the conversation, editor Justine Cullen released a statement explaining her decision to feature alternate covers.

“In an ideal world no one would have an issue seeing breastfeeding on the cover of a magazine,” she said. “But it’s not an ideal world. Supermarkets are where we make a large proportion of our sales. Not everyone walking through a supermarket is our target demographic, nor are they all going to be understanding of the message behind this cover.

“If enough of those people complained about this cover and it was pulled from the shelves — or worse, if we were made to put a sticker over the part of the cover deemed offensive — it would spell disaster.”