Jessie James Decker cries over body-shaming comments: ‘I can’t believe what I’m reading’

Country singer Jessie James Decker is the latest celebrity to shine a light on how hurtful it is to read awful things about yourself on the internet—an inescapable reality for anyone who’s famous, unfortunately. She emotionally called out body shamers on Reddit after reading a thread entirely dedicated to her weight.

Like Valerie Bertinelli last week, Decker grew teary in an Instagram Story as she described how reading the terrible things people were writing about her body after someone sent her a link to the Reddit thread.

“They’re talking about, apparently, how fat I’ve gotten, and how boxy and how terrible my body looks,” she said. “It’s pretty awful, and I just can’t believe this is still happening in the world, like that people are doing this.”

Jessie James Decker Cries Over Reddit Comments About Weight Gain

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She said that she’s “100% gained weight,” though that shouldn’t be anyone’s concern. We all do. Because we’re humans with human bodies, and we’re slowly emerging from isolation during an ongoing pandemic. Most of us are self-conscious about hearing any criticism at all about our bodies. To be famous and have to read cruel words about our weight on a regular basis? Truly awful.

“I used to obsess over it, try to stay a certain weight, and most recently over the past year I decided to just let myself live,” she said. “I work out and I eat what I want, and I 100% am 10 lbs. heavier than what I used to be. Truthfully. I used to weigh like 115 [lbs.], and I’m not anymore! I eat what I want and I’m happy with that.”

Decker says she’s just like anyone else, and of course she’s affected by body-shaming. She said writing blogs and threads dedicated to bullying her about her weight is offensive. She began to cry, calling the posts “disgusting” and describing herself as “shocked” by what she read.

“I cannot believe there are people out there that say these things about people. How can you wake up and live with yourself?” she asked. “And it does make you stop and look in the mirror and go, is there something wrong with me? Am I gaining weight, is there something wrong with me?”

She mentioned her daughter, saying that she hopes she doesn’t have to grow up in a world where people publicly body shame her. And, truthfully, as her children get older and are able to see and read these things about their mom themselves, how could they not be affected by it? At the end of her video, Decker simply instructs people who don’t like her to just stop following her.

“If you don’t like me, then leave me alone,” she said. “If you don’t like what I have to say, if you don’t like what I have to do, if you don’t like anything about me, then stop paying attention to me. Just leave me alone. Don’t obsess over what I do. Don’t look at my pictures don’t look at my videos don’t look at my posts. If you don’t like me leave me alone.”

Sometimes it feels like we’ve come so far in battling the toxic world of diet culture and fatphobia, and sometimes, things liek this are a good reminder that we have so far yet to go. Sending good vibes to Jessie James Decker and anyone else who needs it.