You can add Jamie Otis' name to the ever-growing list of celebrity women who have been subject to body-shaming comments made online by complete strangers hiding behind their computers.
Otis, who is known for starring on Married at First Sight as well as appearing as a contestant on Ben Flank's season of The Bachelor, has posted a blog about being body-shamed after a supposed fan made a mean comment about her breasts.
"I’m just trying to figure out what’s lopsided — her boobs, her bra, or her shirt," the commenter wrote in response to a Facebook Live video Otis had posted on March 13. "Woman, have some respect for yourself."
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Otis, who is 18 weeks' pregnant with a "rainbow baby" after having a miscarriage last summer, described how deflated the comment made her feel.
"Instantly I felt my smile fade," she wrote in her blog post. "My mood went bleak. I immediately looked down to my chest to see if my boobs are really that noticeably 'lopsided' …?! Then I re-watched my video to see if my breasts looked completely abnormal? I wasn’t thinking of my breasts or even paying attention to them when I was chatting with all of my friends and frans live on Facebook."
Though the reality star shared a screenshot of the comment in question, she declined to show the person's name.
"I purposely crossed out her name," she explained. "I don’t want ANYONE to go back and bully her or shame her for being so crass. This post is meant to raise awareness and hopefully PREVENT shaming and bullying.
Instead, Otis reached out to the woman directly.
"I decided I better do it privately so no one goes attacking her," she said. "That is NOT my goal. Even though she hurt me by being a bully and trying to shame me, I do not want to react by shaming and bullying her. It wouldn’t make me happy to see others 'have my back' and gang up on her, either. That’s the exact opposite of what I want. I just hope to help her realize that I am a REAL person on the other side of her computer. Her thoughtless comments do reach me because I read ALL of the comments I get on social media. Maybe if I speak up she won’t hurt another person by bullying and shaming them.
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"I shared so much with this woman in my message to her — in hindsight, maybe a bit too much. It’s really none of her business why my breasts are 'lopsided.' I wrote from the heart (which I probably should have edited to make sure it didn’t come off mean in any way). I was just hurt and I was hoping she would realize that what she says and comments on social media can be painful whether she realizes it or not."
Rather than apologizing to Otis, the commenter continued to make crass comments about her breasts.
"For goodness sake, cover more than half of your tits," the woman wrote to Otis.
"Her response to me literally left me speechless," Otis shared with her readers. "Instead of maybe apologizing and accepting that her words were hurtful she went on to try to shame and bully me more. This is where I decided I should just stop. Some people live in their own little worlds and refuse to try to change for the better.
"My goal in sharing this experience is that any woman who stumbles across this post will just think about their comments before they post them. Maybe we as women could go out of our way to build each other up instead of tear each other down."
For real. Like, wouldn't it be nice if we could go a day or two without hearing jibes about "lopsided boobs" or "James Brown wigs"? Pointing out things you perceive to be "flaws" doesn't make you honest; it makes you an a-hole.
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