Just days after confirming that she is pregnant with her fifth child, former Real Housewives of Atlanta star was photographed smoking a cigarette in an Atlanta suburb Thursday.
The 35-year-old was also photographed smoking during a family vacation to Destin, Florida, over Memorial Day weekend.
Zolciak’s former publicist Jonathan Jaxson said the reality star was “ definitely rough around the edges ” when he met her in 2008, and said she is a “chain smoker who enjoys drinking, spending money, cussing like a sailor and causing drama.”
She could also be causing harm to her unborn child. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking during pregnancy can cause premature birth , low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). And according to a 2004 Surgeon General’s report, the nicotine in cigarettes can cause constrictions in the blood vessels of the utereus and umbilical cord, which decreases the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Nicotine can also be found in breast milk, so if Zolciak continues to smoke after giving birth, she could pass nicotine to her child during breastfeeding.
Zolciak studied nursing at the University of Connecticut, and having had four other children, should be aware of the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
Zolciak is thought to be about four months pregnant, and confirmed her pregnancy on the season finale of Don’t Be Tardy Tuesday . This will be her third child with husband, Kroy Biermann, and she has two daughters from a previous marriage, whom Biermann recently adopted . Zolciak gave birth to Kroy Jagger Biermann Jr. on May 30, 2011, and Kash Kade Biermann on August 15, 2012.
Zolciak said, “Kroy loves me pregnant. I don’t remember my ex-husband being that into it, but Kroy loves it. He tells me I’m beautiful.”
Zolciak and Biermann, 27, were married on November 11, 2011 at their rented Roswell, Georgia home.
What do you think of Kim Zolciak smoking while pregnant?
[Photo credit: Phil Stafford / Shutterstock.com ]
