Ugh.
The media captured some images of images of an 8-months-pregnant Hayden Panettiere wearing a two-piece swimsuit while vacationing in Hawaii this week, and it kind of went nuts.
It turns out—shocking, I know—that many celebrity news outlets are eager to judge women’s bodies when they look approximately like real pregnant human beings and not like toy dolls with passably teeny ‘bumps.”
TMZ’s headline shouted about the “GIANT” star (caps theirs, not mine), and said that her “proportions seem out of whack.”
The Daily Mirror called her “huge” in its headline, and proclaimed her “ready to pop” — one of my least favorite pregnancy phrases of all time — as did the Daily Mail. So did Perez Perez Hilton (but at least also allowed that she looked “flawless”). Even the publications that had a few friendly things to say about the star overwhelmingly used language that implied judgement and shame.
The star is, by her own admission to Hello! magazine (as cited in the Daily Mail), up more weight than is recommended during singleton pregnancy, adding close to 40 pounds to her itty bitty frame. “I’m 5 feet, 2 inches, and I started out at 106 pounds and guess how much I weigh now? Around 145 pounds,” she said.
But life happens, and there are many things about pregnancy that we can’t necessarily predict or control. It can be a plenty uncomfortable enough time without good-intentioned gawkers on the street — let alone body-shaming media screaming judgement-laden language.
So here’s all I have to say about that: If a pregnant lady, famous or no, finds some time to ease her achy joints and feet with some buoyant time in the water, let her wear whatever the heck she pleases.
To that end, check out our gallery of pregnant celebs in bikinis. Work it, ladies!
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Photo: Courtesy of Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com
