Victoria’s Secret model Candice Swanepoel has taken to Instagram Stories to give body-shamers a piece of her mind after she was criticised for having a “tummy” following the birth of her second child, son Ariel.
The 29-year-old model, who recently launched her own swimwear line called TropicofC, hit back at haters by sharing the pH๏τo in question—which shows her walking on a beach in a ʙικιɴι—explaining that it was taken just 12 days after the birth of her son with fiancé Hermann Nicoli on June 19, and we have to say—she looks nothing short of incredible.
“This is me 12 days after having my son. If you have something bad to say about it.. Check yourself,” she wrote across the image. “Society can be so cruel to one another.. Beauty standards are sometimes impossible for women these days, I’m not ashamed to show my post-partum tummy, I am proud actually…”
“I carried my son for 9 months in there,” she continued. “I think I’ve earned the right to have a little tummy, is it because I’m a model? Well we are normal people too so let me enjoy the beach in peace please.”
Swanepoel, who welcomed her first son Anaca in October of 2016, questioned the unrealistic expectations placed upon women and encouraged females as a whole to band together and support one another.
“I don’t have to hide my stomach just because people have unrealistic standards of women,” she wrote across another image of herself on the beach with a very pregnant stomach just prior to giving birth.
“We create life… What can you do? Ladies, we are all in this together be kind to each other. Xc”