Why This Blogger Is Sharing The "Behind The Scenes" Of Her Selfie

Last week, mom, actress, and writer Tova Leigh posted a selfie on Instagram to share a message about body image and societal pressures on self-worth. The photo got over 700 likes, and her message was well-received amongst her followers.

However, on Monday, Leigh took to Instagram again, and admitted that she felt a little guilty about that photo — because it had been edited and filtered.

"Last week I shared the 'perfect' selfie on Instagram (see small image on the bottom left)," she wrote. "It got a whole lot of 'likes,' friends told me I was sexy and I even made it my new profile picture on Facebook."

"Today I am sharing the 'behind the scenes' of that image."

"The image turned out really nice — of course it helped that I added a pretty filter and the lighting was kind of good as well — not to mention the fact that I crossed out all the bits that I didn’t like,” she told Yahoo about the first photo.

However, after she read about the mental health effects that Instagram can have on people, she decided to post a follow-up photo showing another angle of the shot she had posted last week, of herself leaning over to take the selfie.

“After reading an article about how people and especially teenagers are depressed and feeling insecure about themselves — due to all the perfect images on Instagram — I started feeling like a fraud, but also that I had a responsibility to share the behind-the-scenes image," she told Yahoo.

"[This is] how I actually looked when it was taken, without 20 attempts to get it right, without cropping out the bits I don't like and without adding the 'make me look pretty' filter," she wrote, adding that she's begun to think more about how people can feel insecure over all the "perfect" photos they see on social media.

"Well let me tell you something: THIS IS REAL," she wrote. "In all my mum tum, cellulitis, granny pants and absolutely zero thigh gap glory! Not the perfect sexy body by some dictated standard, but imperfectly fabulous because it is real and it is mine."

Leigh ended her message with a reminder for her followers that "you are beautiful just the way you are. And there is nothing sexier than being real."

Since posting the second photo, Leigh told Yahoo, she's been floored by how many people have responded to it.

"The reaction to the real image has been incredible,” she told Yahoo. “I have received hundreds of messages from women all over the world thanking me for sharing this honest image. I am a mother of three girls and the whole idea of social media and how it is not real and does not really represent life really worries me for them."

Given how many people Leigh has already seemed to inspire, we'd wager that her daughters are in pretty safe hands.