Pregnant Doutzen Kroes announces the gender of her second child as she glows in make-up free selfie

Her blonde hair is swept to one side, framing her face, and she sports a casual soft grey top.

The catwalk queen already has a three-year-old son, Phyllon, with her DJ husband Sunnery James.

The boy, who weighed in at eight pounds, was born in Amsterdam.

Her make-up free selfie is perhaps an effort to counteract the pressure and unrealistic expectations that women often experience as a result of the proliferation of airbrushed images.

Beautiful in black: The 29-year-old supermodel pictured at the Academy Awards about a month after announcing her second pregnancy

Precious: The Victoria's Secret Angel cradled her bump, which was largely concealed beneath the black dress

She told the New York Post: 'Sometimes it makes me feel guilty now that I am in this profession that makes certain girls insecure. I always say, I don't look like the picture.'

Doutzen also joked that some of her campaign images have been so digitally altered, she doesn't even recognise the real her when she looks in the mirror.

She added: 'If you put me in bad light with no hair and make-up, it's not good...  I wake up sometimes like, this is not what I see when I look at the magazine, who is this visitor in the bathroom?'

Handsome couple: Doutzen and her DJ husband, Sunnery James, whom she began dating in 2009 and tied the knot with in November 2010

The statuesque blonde has been vocal about her desire to promote a healthy body image in the past, and doesn't believe in losing weight to fit into unrealistically small sample sizes.

She told the Telegraph: 'I'm not a sample size at all ... I'm 28 and I've had a baby. If they think I'm too fat, I'd rather not do the job - because I am super-healthy and fit and I'm so happy the way I am.'

However, she does regulate her diet and exercise, especially prior to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Model mummy: The catwalk queen already has a three-year-old son, Phyllon, with her husband

'For the show, there is no retouching,' she said. 'We can't escape from the truth. There are millions of people watching - and even people watching live - so it's really important to work out a lot, which I do, and I definitely change my diet.

'Diet is 70 per cent of what your body looks like. You can work out all you like but if you don't eat well… I stop drinking [alcohol] a month before the show and no sugar.

'I still eat carbs because to have just protein and vegetables for me, it doesn't work. But I eat one potato with some fish and greens - very basic and happy food.'

What an extravaganza: Doutzen (second from the left) pictured with her fellow Victoria's Secret Angels last November