A young mom who showed off her post-partum figure has been praised for calling out cruel body shamers.
Earlier this week, Mia Somerville shared an honest look at the raw realities of becoming a mother in a powerful viral video that has now had over two million views.
In the clip, the 24-year-old from Canberra explained that she has always been very body positive and confident in herself, and prior to giving birth she assumed that her stomach would “bounce back”.
But after having her baby girl Pippa back in September 2022, Mia said it has taken her some time to regain her confidence and get used to the changes her body has gone through.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Lifting up her shirt, the mom showed what her stomach looked like after giving birth at 40 weeks and 6 days.
Due to the natural stretching that occurs while pregnant, Mia currently has some loose skin on her tummy and her belly button looks different than it did before.
“I love my baby girl more than anything, and wouldn’t change being a mom for the world,” she told news.com.au.
“However, that doesn’t negate the fact that becoming a mother means you’re going through some huge life changes, both mentally and physically.
“I’ve always been very body positive and confident in myself. But seeing how different I looked after having Pippa did take a little bit of getting used to.
“I am not sure exactly what my intention was making the video, but I thought, well I am not seeing this kind of body anywhere.
“We’re not exposed to real bodies in the mainstream media. All the celebrities and influencers you see appear to just ‘bounce back’ days after giving birth.
“Tammy Hembrow was in her gym gear literally the next day after having her third child.
“I’m still young and was always quite slim. So I just assumed that I’d just ‘bounce back’ too, and that I’d look exactly the same.
“So having loose skin and stretch marks on my stomach definitely was not what I expected.”
After posting the clip to her TikTok account, Mia was flooded with thousands of comments from people all over the world.
While most were supportive, some cruelly shamed the mo
m’s body, saying they would “hate” to look like her.
Lots of people also stated that after seeing Mia’s video, they decided they would “never have kids”.
“TikTok is the app where I think people feel free to be as rude as they want,” she said back to the haters.
“It doesn’t bother me, but it is sad because I know other mo
ms are in a similar situation and will read those nasty messages and feel bad about themselves.
“So many people said they’d hate to look like me, or that it was ‘horrible’ or ‘gross’.
“The saddest ones were those that said things like, ‘Now I’m never having kids.’
“To think we live in a world where people would rather forgo the incredible journey of becoming a parent, just because of how they might look, is really depressing.
“It is also just plain insulting. It is basically saying that a woman’s only purpose in life is to look attractive and perfect.”
In an epic response video, the mom said the cruel comments were not OK.
“I just replied and said, ‘Actually I don’t look horrible,’” she said.
“Apart from a little bit of loose skin and stretch marks, I think personally I look great.
“I’m three-and-a-half months post-partum, and I feel amazing.
“People can be so horrible online, but I don’t let it bother me.”
Despite this, Mia was overwhelmed by the amount of love and support she received.
Many mothers agreed that they felt isolated and shocked after giving birth when seeing their new bodies, and thought they were “not normal”.
“It meant everything to me when others said my video helped them feel seen and validated,” Mia said.
“We’re all in this together. At the end of the day, you get a beautiful child out of it.
“If people are going to say negative things about your body, then they haven’t gone through what we’ve gone through.
“It is incredibly empowering to grow a child for nine months and go through childbirth.
“We need to focus on what our bodies have done for us, and what they will do, instead of what it looks like to everyone else.”