Stop this body & soul-destroying
I LOVE the trend of celebs showing their real bodies on Instagram. It helps women see that even those they perceive as perfect also have rolls of fat, stretch marks, saggy skin or baggy knees.
When former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman posed in a catalogue bikini without breathing in, she proved it’s time to look past the gloss.
She’s spent her career surrounded by models and pristinely airbrushed pictures and, like me, maybe she’s simply had enough.
Stacey Solomon posted pictures of her bikini body while her kids were drawing on her stretch marks. All her Loose Women friends cheered – and
she got 8.5 million likes for her beautifully natural, relaxed and wholly normal pictures. Hollyoaks actress Jennifer Metcalfe was proud to post pictures of her post-baby body – although if I had a body like that even pre-babies, I’d have wanted it on a billboard. Hopefully the show-it-as-it-is trend proves we no longer like the body-shaming stories which gleefully expose every muffin top, love handle, bunion, wart or 11th toe. Do trolls know what damage they do to women’s confidence? I wanted to kill the sickos who targeted Jesy Nelson, my son’s former fiancée. They didn’t know the damage they were doing to a talented young woman’s selfesteem. That’s why I came off social media. It can be a horribly hurtful place.
I’ve posed for swimwear shoots pre-diet and post-diet, slim and not-so-slim. And now I care a lot less about my weight. I’m not saying I’ll give up and soar to 25st. But I don’t care as much about slimming to please others.
I have more important things filling my mind like my three kids, my little granddaughter and even my four dogs (one of which is three-legged). I’m not defined by my waistline.
So although I cheer the bravery of the women who do away with airbrushing and come out from behind multiple filters. And I am thrilled to see such honesty highly praised and appreciated on social media. But isn’t it sad that we women are so obsessed with perfectionism that we have to make such a big deal out of our lumps and bumps to normalise them? Men certainly don’t feel the need.
Funnily enough, since I abandoned social media, none of the trolls have sent letters to me. Maybe they can’t write?
It’s sad to make a big deal of our lumps and bumps