Melissa Joan Hart Drops the Ball on Being a Role Model
So Melissa Joan Hart packed on the pounds during her pregnancy. That makes her different from any other pregnant woman in America, how?
The former Sabrina the Teenage Witch star showed off her bikini-worthy bod in People last week, but it was her words that cut deep into the psyches of moms everywhere.
A picture of her post-partum at one hundred fifty-five pounds, snapped on the beach, was “horrifying,” Hart told People. That’s why she lost weight. Not because she felt physically bad at her weight. Because she cared what everyone else thought of her.
Wow, how, SHALLOW of her. Yeah, yeah, I know, she lives in Hollywood – she’s supposed to care what the public thinks about her. She points out that living in Hollywood puts huge pressure on you, and I’d bet it would. But if you’re going to use that as your excuse, you can just as easily use it as your soapbox. Because Hart is one of those women who can make a statement to the world that sets the world afire and lets other women know it is OK to walk outside of their houses with their heads held high in the days after they give birth.
But where she had the chance to be a wonderful anti-dote to the thousands of celebrity women who practically prance out of the hospital with their twiggy forms back and make the rest of us feel even worse about ourselves, Hart chose the wrong route. Showing off her hard fourteen months of work was a great example to women that you can do it, maybe. But the words “horrifying” about her post-partum body undid much of that positive message.
What happened to being honest about what happens to a woman’s body during pregnancy? To facing up to the fact that the weeks after having a baby are hardly the time to focus on weight loss/gain because you’re focused on a new life?
Image: People
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She’s just being honest. There’s nothing abnormal or narcissistic about her statements, and a lot of women feel the same way about how they look after their pregnancies, especially if they gained an unhealthy amount of weight. I’m not saying women *should* feel this way, but they often do, and just because MJH is an actress it is not fair to expect her to be a saint who is above all body-image issues. As others have said, at least she was honest about how hard she had to work to get fit again. This is how it usually is for us normal, non-Heidi-Klum types.
In regards to the 155lbs comment, Melissa is 5FT 2! 155lbs on such a short person is NOT good.
Well, I’ll just go ahead and say it, although some may think I am just spewing out the results of being raised in a misogynistic, appearance-obsessed society…but I am “horrified” by my pregnancy body, and fully expect to be “horrified” by my post-pregnancy body, at least for a while.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t have awe and reverence for the process that is going on with my body right now, growing a whole new human. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for my pregnant body and it’s abilities. In fact, I would like to throw a party for my body daily – I’m amazed at what it can do!
But I am not one of those women who adore everything about pregnancy, including my changing shape. I don’t think that Melissa was being hateful to moms everywhere by her statement. I think she was just being honest about her own experience, and stating that FOR HER, getting back to pre-pregnancy shape was important. I guarantee I will feel the same.
It could be argued that both her and I are suffering from having bought into some feminine ideal that should not be…but I can honestly say, I don’t care. Even if that is the case (and as die-hard of a feminist as I am), I can live with that. I just feel better about myself when I look what I perceive to be “my best.” If that means I can’t be a role model, I am fine with that.
She’s an actress. For the most part they are not “real women”. They are cardboard constructs of real women. Of course she was horrified…she didn’t look like all the other cardboard constructs!
You takes your good role models where you can find them. They tend to surprise though, because they are hidden by all the bad role models.
I agree with the above commenters. I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s really only in photos of myself post-birth that I can tell how much weight I’ve gained, something that just looking in the mirror doesn’t reflect, for whatever reason. While I might say that “horrifying” is a bit strong, the sentiment is not totally alien to me.
I think she looks great on the cover of People — you can’t see her ribs! — and as Melanie pointed out, it took her 14 months! This is WAY more relatable to me personally than Heidi Klum walking in the Vic’s Secret fashion show at 8 weeks post-partum AND way more relatable to me than so many other women who are able to take weight off within even 8 months. (And she says she took the time so she *wouldn’t* have to take time away from her kids!) It takes me much longer. I’m sure if you talked to Hart personally, she too would be amazed at what her body did to grow and birth two sons; but why does that mean that she has to like the extra 40+ pounds hanging around afterwards? I sure don’t.
I think she was just being honest. I imagine if I saw my own post-partum body splashed across a magazine cover, I’d be horrified too. It doesn’t mean I don’t embrace my body or that I don’t like myself. It just means, “Wow, I didn’t realize how much pregnancy and childbirth changed my body! I’m going to try to get my `old’ body back!”
Personally, I think new moms spend way too much time thinking about the fact that they SHOULDN’T worry about their post-baby body instead of getting healthy and fit for their children. Sure, it takes time (hey, it took MJH 14 months) but I don’t see it as such a bad goal to have — to lose some weight, get healthy and tone.
Why bash a new young mom when she was just being honest? Why project what SHE said about HERSELF onto ALL new moms? Lighten up.
Well, how would you feel if you were in her position? Would you still be on your high horse saying that you aren’t going to lose the wieght because you’re going to show everyone that you don’t care?
She worked hard to lose the weight without going to tummy tuck after the cesarean route and was upfront about her feelings about it. If anything, you should respect her for what she has done. She was honest about the fact that it is hard work to get the before body back.