She’s not afraid of a call out — and she’s right about this one. Model Tess Holliday took to her Instagram to share sweet photos with her son, Bowie, but the photos were accompanied by an eye-opening message about the fat-shaming the 34-year-old has been subjected to by her followers within the context of being a mother.
“Imagine just wanting to be able to share photos of my little one and instead, being told I’m unfit to be his mom because of my size,” she wrote on her post. “None of us are promised tomorrow, regardless of our weight, and I can guarantee that if I were to die tomorrow, both my boys would know how loved they were and what a badass their mom was,” she concluded, adding the hair flip and sparkle heart emojis. She even included her signature hashtag “#effyourbeautystandards.”
The sweet photos sandwiched several screengrabs of nasty comments from followers. She selected several really hurtful messages, including, “You’re gonna die and not see him grow up into a man, it’s really sad.” Another comment read: “Do you disinfect your rolls from fungal growth?” Just really uncool, y’all.
She then followed up in the comments, letting fans know specifically why she decided to make the important post. “FYI I’m only posting this to show a glimpse into my life [and] why I’m choosing to keep things a bit more private lately. Love y’all,” she explained.
Naturally, a lot of supporters came through to share positivity on her post and prove not everyone on social media is trying to hurt you. “I love seeing [you] be a mom,” Ariana Grande‘s tattoo artist Mira Mariah wrote. “Cool mom club [for life].”
One blogger even highlighted the mindset of a lot of the trolls who regularly comment on Tess’ posts. “People who leave comments like this WANT to be proved right because it justifies their worldview and their own sense of thin privilege,” they wrote. “And they’re trying to paint YOU as a s—y person? OK!!!”
Needless to say, the redhead’s post was a great way to showcase how much one’s words matter. It was really brave of you, Tess, to be so open about it.