Robyn Lawley made history earlier this year when she became the first plus-sized model to appear in the Sport's Illustrated swimsuit issue—which she posed for in her first trimester of pregnancy, at that. But the 26-year-old model is making headlines for a whole different kind of picture now, one she posted to Facebook that shows what it really looks like to be a fit mom eight months post-delivery—stretch marks and all.
Her Facebook post came after a British tabloid ran an (obviously) false rumor that the model would consider getting an abortion just to avoid the stretch marks. So how did Lawley fire back? The new mom put her stretch marks on full display, “because they are some bad ass #tigerstripes,” she wrote in the post. (Want even more empowering tiger stripe examples? Read The #ThighReading Trend Proves the Days of Thigh Gaps Are Long Gone.)
Even before pregnancy, Lawley had “a ton” of stretch marks—like most of the world, she points out. And while she was enraged by the suggestion that she would choose her body over her baby, she also wants to make sure new moms know that their bodies are beautiful and nothing short of astounding.
“To anyone who feels bad about your body especially after a baby, you are a warrior, you created a life inside of you, that's no easy feat,” she wrote.
Lawley's post follows in the footsteps of other women all over the world who have been getting real about what post-baby bodies look like. Mother-of-three Rachel Hollis’ bikini photowent viral back in March. And Australian nutritionist Julie Bhosale documented how her body actually looked right after giving birth and in the following weeks.
“We put an unbelievable amount of ridiculous time consuming pressure on women to care so much about their flaws [that] they forget how truly beautiful they (you) are today,” Lawley wrote. “F**k them, who cares, be you, be loud, be proud.” And with a fiercely-positive attitude like that, Lawley’s baby girl is lucky to have such a great role model