Being a woman on the internet can be a fraught experience, especially when our bodies come into play (and they often do). Rebekah Vardy, who's married to UK soccer player Jamie Vardy, has experienced her share of unfortunate online trolls lately — and she's not backing down.
Not only has Vardy's unborn child been the subject of death threats in recent weeks, she's also received a threat from a Twitter user claiming they'd break her jaw. Most recently, Vardy has been the target of body-shaming — after giving birth, she's received comments online calling her "huge."
"That was just ridiculous," she told The Sun about the online abuse. "People were on Twitter saying that my thighs were fat, saying they couldn’t believe Jamie was with me because I was so huge. I’d just given birth, I looked normal."
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Though Vardy gave birth in January, she said that the abuse has still continued to this day, something she blames on the unrealistic standards placed on women's bodies.
"There is so much unrealistic pressure on women these days to get their figures back overnight because there are so many women in the public eye who seem to be able to do that," she told The Sun. "I get annoyed when I hear celebrities say the weight just dropped off. Maybe for a tiny few it does, but for most of us it doesn’t."
Vardy, a mother of four, said she's proud of her body for everything its achieved, and she's no rush to get her body back to where it was before she was pregnant — nor should she feel pressured to.
"I am proud of what my body has achieved," she told The Sun. "I carried all of my children for nine months and my body changed constantly to provide for them."
"I have a wobbly tummy, bigger legs, wrinkled skin and stretch marks, just like any woman does when she’s had a baby," she continued. "I only started going back to the gym last week. I didn’t rush into it. But I do absolutely love it."
As admirable as it is that Vardy stood up to her haters, her story is a reminder of what women have to endure simply for existing publicly. The bottom line is, no one should have to deal with hateful comments, especially not when it comes to our bodies and our children.