Jade Thirlwall has a powerful message for every woman battling self-hatred
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- Jessica Rapana
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The Little Mix singer feels sad about the self-loathing she went through 10 years ago, and now she has some wise words for every woman going through the same thing.
Sometimes it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that we can see things as they really are.
This is often the case when it comes to how we see ourselves, as most of us tend to be too hard on ourselves and it’s only upon reflection that we realise we should have been kinder.
This is something Jade Thirlwall knows first-hand. Despite being a member of Little Mix, and regularly belting out female-championing, self-empowering lyrics, the singer has been there too.
In an emotional Instagram post, Thirlwall opened up about being riddled with “self-hatred”, while reflecting on how much her attitude towards herself has changed over the past decade.
The singer shared a screenshot of a Facebook status update that she wrote in 2010 under the name Lousie Ross in which she asked Santa for “some appropriate sized boobs”, “a body more toned than Nicole Scherzinger’s”and some help with a spot on her chin.
Reflecting on the post a decade later, Thirlwall noted how sad she felt. “Kinda funny but WOW the self hatred here!” she wrote. “I feel sad knowing that version of myself in 2010 was so self conscious she felt the need to post publicly self deprecating herself.
She continued, “Just recovering from anorexia and no idea I was about to be pummelled into an industry that feeds off this kinda negative shit.”
Concluding, she wrote: “It’s taken 10 years and while I still have normal days of feeling crap I can honestly say I love my little tittied, sometimes spotty imperfect self and you should too [smiley face]. I’m going into this decade with a whole lotta love for myself.”
The post swiftly garnered an outpour of support from her followers, including singer Jessie J, who wrote: “Amen!”.
Body positivity activist Megan Jayne Crabbe also commented, saying: “You became the woman you needed when you were younger – that’s pretty spectacular bbygirl [sic]”.
This is not the first time Thirlwall has spoken out about her body image struggles. Opening up in the bands book Our World, she spoke about her struggles with anorexia, which led to her being hospitalised as a teenager.
“I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear,” she explained, adding that regular therapy eventually helped her overcome her condition.
Thanks to the sexist and damaging aesthetic standards put onto women and the constant bombardment of subliminal messaging about what beauty looks like, the truth is that most of us have moments when we are riddled with insecurity or self-loathing.
However, as we enter a new decade, change is in the air, in no small part due to women in the spotlight like Thirwall, I Weigh founder Jameela Jamil and singer Lizzo dismantling patriarchal standards by continuing to preach self-love and remind us that we should too.
Image: Getty