I LOVE Stacey Solomon, I really do.
I’ve known her since she was on The X Factor as an ambitious 20-year-old and felt for her when her latest reality show ‘Stacey and Joe’ was slammed - why, then, did the pics of her glorious curves this week hit me like a ton of bricks?
As she posed in her orange bikini on holiday in Lake Como this week, she looked happy, healthy and carefree.
Sadly the vile trolls unleashed a torrent of abuse on her with one cruelly saying “She’s let herself go”; while another added “needed”;.
And as I absorbed the comments, it hit me how long it had been since I had seen a body that looked like my own.
Recently it feels like on I am constantly bombarded with tiny toned bodies, perfect pert bums and impossibly flat stomachs.
Even when I put down my phone it’s on our TV screens as the new season of kicked off with girls in barely-there bikinis and not one belly roll in sight.
It’s quite a worrying trend and it’s left me feeling uneasy that being thin is so back en vogue.
I grew up in the era where pals lived by ’s mantra ‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’.
Having struggled with my weight since my teens and having tried (and failed) to do every fad diet going, I’ve always felt inadequate.
I was grateful for the rise of the body confident movement, and I totally embraced it.
Finally I could feel comfortable in my own skin because celebrities like , and - who looked like me - were saying they felt sexy, too.
But over the last 12 months I’ve seen curvier (and actually not-so-curvy) at an accelerated rate with the .
Everyone has the right to do what they want with their bodies and lose weight however they chooseand there are certainly benefits to .
But this new quick fix means our are smaller than ever and I think it’s making people forget what real women look like.
The cult of thin is back in such a big way and it’s depressing for those who aren’t getting on board and sacrificing themselves to in a bid to be a skinny minny.
, who is a busy mum toZachary, 17, Leighton, 12, Rex, five, Rose, three and two-year-old Belle, has never shied away from celebrating her ‘mum bod’.
Stacey’s success is not determined by the size on her clothes label
And it is refreshing to in the public eye.
It makes me feel that it would be OK for me to get my body out this on holiday.
Two years ago, the 35-year-old, who is married to , revealed to her followers .
The average woman in the UK is a size 16 so while she is still smaller than most women, she is still being judged.
The star is also maintaining a lifestyle, often working out in her newly built home gym where she aims to be strong not skinny.
Standing in front of a mirror she said: “I thought it was really important to come on here and say when I take the gym clothes off I look like this...”; before pulling down her leggings down past her hips to show off unfiltered and non-photoshopped body.
She added, “...Which is also really pretty and a really lovely body and I just feel like it’s important to show that.”;
Stacey is one of our most successful Brit celebrities with over 6.1m followers.
Strong not skinny
She’s got a host of TV shows and successful brand deals and is even rumoured to be taking part in this year’s .
In a sea of size zero loving stars, maintaining her realistic normal body is perhaps why she’s still winning over audiences.
Stacey’s success is not determined by the size on her label.
I’m grateful, like many other women, that she prefers to give us an injection of her relatable and funny personality rather than injecting a into her body!
