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Wearing a bathing suit can be daunting at the best of times. Which is why we applaud lifestyle website founder and mother of three, Rachel Hollis, for proudly sharing a picture of her post pregnancy belly with the world.
Hollis posted a picture of herself wearing a two-piece bathing suit while on the beach in Cancun with her husband. The image went viral after women around the world started responding to Hollis’ candid shot. Within five minutes of being posted to Hollis’ Facebook business page, the photo had racked up 100 likes. By Tuesday, the photo had more than 325,000 likes and more than 41,000 shares.
Hollis says, “When I saw the photo, I noticed my stomach and realized that I had never seen a really honest bikini shot on social media, so I thought, ‘I’ll just post this for the moms.” She captioned the photo, “I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy… (which is something I didn’t even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could. I wear a bikini because the only man whose opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he’s never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren’t scars ladies, they’re stripes and you’ve earned them. Flaunt that body with pride!”
We couldn’t agree more.
This refreshingly candid message cuts through the typical sea of heavily edited and filtered post-pregnancy images that we see on TV and in the media. Not only does it honour the miraculous transformation a woman’s body goes through during pregnancy but it has also inspired others to take pride in their own bodies (whatever the shape or size). Right on, Rachel, and keep rocking that bikini!
Here’s a bit more about Rachel Hollis.