Health

These Two Viral Post-Pregnancy Pics Are Inspiring Very Different Reactions

May 9th 2016

A pair of post-pregnancy photos posted by Chrissy Teigen and Kendra Wilkinson shows that sometimes new moms just can't win.

Everyone has an opinion about how mothers should not only be treated, but also about how they should look. It's the latter that has the internet swept up in a debate that reveals the impossible beauty standards faced by new moms.

Teigen and Wilkinson, who both began their careers as models, each shared an image of their post-pregnancy bodies, both to very different reactions.

Here's Chrissy Teigen's photo.

Teigen captioned her photo, "Mother's Day Brunch - low and slow scrambled eggs, chicken and waffles and roasted bacon, oh my!"

Here's Kendra Wilkinson's photo.

Kendra Wilkinson post pregnancy selfieKendra Wilkinson/Instagram - instagram.com

Wilkinson posted her selfie with the caption, "Look what my 2 babies did... They made me happy. 😊 #happymothersday"

Here are the comments.

Teigen's photo received comments of bafflement, awe, and criticism.

Chrissy Teigen instagram screen shotChrissy Teigen/Instagram - instagram.com

"What am I doing wrong here," "how does she look like that...", "She just had a baby. FML. 😳," and "just had a baby.. What's our excuse?!" are some of the comments that are filling her Instagram comments.

The comments on Wilkinson's photo are of a different tone:

Kendra Wilkinson Instagram screen grabKendra Wilkinson/Instagram - instagram.com

"Beautiful," "you're so brave...", "much respect", and "I love how real you are" are the popular comments Wilkinson is getting.

The responses to Teigen's and Wilkinson's photos show that women are often shamed after pregnancies, regardless of what their bodies look like.

In Teigen's case, many of the comments seem to imply that there's something suspicious, or less genuine about her pregnancy.

Chrissy Teigen instagram commentsChrissy Teigen/Instagram - instagram.com

In addition to pointing out how insecure Teigen made them feel about their own bodies (one Instagram user proclaimed, "way to make new mothers feel bad about themselves") some of the commenters went so far as to question if Teigen even carried her own child, with one Instagram user posting, "maybe she was never pregnant... Maybe she had a surrogate..."

But Teigen does indeed have stretch marks, and she's proudly showed them on Instagram.

These responses highlight the sometimes impossible situation women face online, in which they are shamed both for looking too perfect, or for not looking perfect enough.

Even in the case of Wilkinson being praised for being "real," the obvious implication is that anyone who doesn't look like her is "fake."

Kendra Wilkinson instagram commentsKendra Wilkinson/Instagram - instagram.com

As for Teigen, it seems like she's taking it all in stride. After tweeting about spray tanning while using her breast pump, a Twitter user warned Teigen that she's going to get "roasted" for it. To which Teigen replied, "it happens for anything and everything. i have decided to stop worrying!"

EDIT: 5/10/16 Kendra Wilkinson appears to have taken the photo down from Instagram. We've replaced the embedded photo with a screen shot.

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