‘You looked fat in your wedding photos… now I know why’

A woman shared the brutal text message exchange with a family member after she announced she was expecting a baby.

Pilar Grace

2 min read

May 14, 2024 - 6:02PM

Pregnancy

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It’s something I tell my kids all the time: you can’t control how other people act, you can only control your own reaction.

But there’s a part they left out of that important adage.

There will be times when you cannot and should not control your own reaction.

Like when you announce to family and friends that you’re pregnant and a friend tells you he thought so because you looked “fatter”.

A woman took to Reddit sharing the shocking back-and-forth with a friend that ensued after she announced she was 12 weeks pregnant.

“Wow. Congrats!” her friend replied.

It would have been a nice reply if he hadn’t added, “You looked fatter in your wedding photos. Now I know why.”

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The woman received a brutal response to her happy news. Photo: Reddit

Woman shocked at friend’s brutal body shaming after pregnancy announcement

She was shocked, and then pointed out an important fact: “I wasn’t pregnant on my wedding day.” The wedding date was four months before her announcement, so it's impossible that she was pregnant.

She said she showed the text message exchange to her brother who was furious.

“He messaged the family friend and absolutely ripped him a new a**hole.”

“Also, not that it should matter what my weight is, but I’m not overweight at all.”

The comments were unanimous, the woman should cut of contact with the so-called friend immediately.

Laura Mazza talks about changing body after babies

We’ll reiterate that the woman in the Reddit post wasn’t even pregnant when her friend so helpfully pointed out that she looked like she’d put on weight.

And there’s no excuse for commenting on anyone’s body, whether they’re pregnant or not.

But in pregnancy, there should be space for women to acknowledge their changing bodies because once you’ve carried a child and birthed a child, nothing is the same.

Laura Mazza summed up the experience beautifully, talking about her body after having three kids.

“Three kids, two vaginals, one caesarean, muscle separation, postpartum depression, antidepressant weight gain, and life later, this is my rig. I hated it,” she wrote on Kidspot.

“I would say it was broken. The stretch marks, the scarring, the weight gain, it’s not the person I valued anymore.

“ I want to show you how much children change your body, but I also want you to know that they changed everything for me. They gave me the balls to fight through my depression. They made me want to finish my degree and study a masters.

“They taught me empathy and kindness and how wonderful life is helping others. They made my life worth fighting for and they made me realise that my body is important, even now, because it made the three most beautiful things that could have ever happened to this rig of mine."