Beyonce releases maternity shoot on website

By now the world knows Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay Z are expecting twins, but the singer has shared more photos from her maternity shoot.

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A day after her big announcement Wednesday, Beyonce's official website was updated with photos similar to her first announcement post, plus others of the singer with she and Jay's first daughter, Blue, 5, and a number of underwater and nude photos.

The photos on her official site is interspersed with stanzas from a Warsan Shire poem, with references to Roman goddess Venus, motherhood and birth.

Shire's writings are also included in Beyonce's 2016 visual album, "Lemonade," which had themes of dating, infidelity, sex and relationships.

Photos of Beyonce with a flower crown surrounded by roses and myrtle appear to be a strong nod to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex and fertility.

References to Oshun, a Yoruba goddess of beauty and love, Yemoja, a Yoruba goddess of water, and Nefertiti are present throughout the shoot.

Beyonce's longtime hairstylist, Neal Farinah, posted photos from the shoot on his Instagram page, including an image of Blue, 5, kissing her mother's belly:

A Beyonce fan account tweeted underwater photos from the shoot.

In classic celebrity tradition, Beyonce posed nude with a bare belly and covered her bust with her hands in some photos, much like Demi Moore, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera before her.

Other photos in the set, titled, "I Have Three Hearts," include personal photos from Beyonce's courtship with Jay-Z, from 2002 to 2016, and images of Blue as a newborn and toddler and throughout Beyonce's first pregnancy, and photos Beyonce's own mother, Tina Knowles Lawson, and grandmother Agnez Dereon.

Photos can be seen on Beyonce's official website.

Cox Media Group