It takes a special type of bravery to post beautiful, real-life pictures like this:
Showing off my #babybump skills 😂 Bikini by @torridfashion 👙 #38weeks #babyhollidayontheway
When sweet shots very like this one get comments like “Hahaha a serial killer cardio workout would be trying to drown one of these manatees.”
Ugh.
Speaking to BabyCenter over the phone, clearly sounding weary of the whole topic (and rightfully so, because the plus-sized model is way more than just her size), Tess Holliday said that she doesn’t get angry at the mean comments leveled at her even when she’s 9 months pregnant with her second child (she also has a 10-year-old son). But the hate is tiresome, particularly when people comment that she can’t be healthy at her size, or that she’s somehow endangering her child’s life.
“i’m healthy, the baby’s healthy, and people are like ‘Obviously your doctor is an idiot.’ And I say ‘Okay, because you went to medical school on Instagram.'”
Holliday says that online commenters have told her there’s no way she’ll be able to run around and take care of her baby, that she was a child abuser, that her child would be unhealthy. Other plus-sized friends of hers have been told that they were putting their babies at risk, or they should abort their babies.
Showing off my #babybump skills 😂 Bikini by @torridfashion 👙 #38weeks #babyhollidayontheway
“It’s obviously part of the fat phobia in our society that is tied to being plus-sized in general,” she says. “But in pregnancy there’s just so much unsolicited advice.”
She hopes other moms, plus- or average-sized “embrace who they are and don’t be ashamed. If you are plus sized and pregnant there are resources out there for you and you can have a perfectly healthy baby.”
Showing off my #babybump skills 😂 Bikini by @torridfashion 👙 #38weeks #babyhollidayontheway
Not that it’s anyone’s business but Ms. Holliday’s, but the model just saw her OB two weeks ago and he said she looks great, her numbers are great, he couldn’t be happier, he wants her to keep doing what she’s doing because it’s working for her. And anyway, as she points out, she’s healthy, but that doesn’t mean her body is “any more valid than a plus-sized person who’s not healthy.”
Holliday is due to give birth any day now, and like many women, particularly those over a size 12, she’s found the selection of maternity clothes out there uninspiring: “I’ve been wearing a lot of flowing things, a lot of leggings. I just buy loose clothing in my current size, and it’s been working.”
Speaking of flowing things available in a variety of sizes, Holliday’s fashion line mblm by Tess Holliday just launched this spring at Canadian plus size retailer Pennington’s. Here’s my particular favorite, the Sleeveless Bustier Crop Top:
Could a pregnant woman rock that? It fits waist sizes up to 54 inches and ends high up so your belly can bloom below, so…maybe?
More on Holliday and body positivity
* Plus size Tess Holliday shares nude pregnancy photos
* Plus size model Tess Holliday announces second pregnancy
* Photos: 29 moms show off their full-term baby bumps
* How do your stretch marks compare? (pics!)
