Kim Kardashian’s Cellulite Reaction Is One Huge Step Backwards for Body Positivity

Remember when Kim K went to Mexico for a sisters trip and some tabloids circulated pictures of her butt? Yeah, we’d almost forgotten too, but Kim clearly hasn’t. This week during her appearance on The View, the reality star made some pretty outlandish claims about those photos, asserting that “people were sharpening them and making them look way worse”.

While we can all admit that that’s probably not the case, Kim’s reaction to these photos sets us all back about ten years in terms of body positivity. Sure, there was some backlash about Kim when the photos were originally released, with twitter trolls calling the images “ugly” and “nasty”, but others found the photos to be a source of comfort, proving that Kim was a real person with a real booty like the rest of us—a side of the hyper-vigilant star that we don’t get to see very often.

At a time when more and more stars are embracing body positivity and acknowledging that we all have flaws, Kim’s response to the photos is doubly disappointing. She’s quick to throw herself under the bus at the beginning of her statement, echoing the voice of self-hate that many of us deal with on a daily basis: “I hadn’t worked out in I think 12 weeks,” she says, reframing her cellulite as a personal flaw, “…I was already not feeling like myself.”

Her story culminates in the unflattering images prompting a total health and fitness makeover—something that, to our minds, should never be spurred by the public’s reaction. After seeing what she deems to be photoshopped images of her cellulite, Kim said she had a realization: “‘OK. I’m going to get it together’” she recalls thinking, just before teaming up with a bodybuilder and overhauling her diet.

This, sadly, shows exactly how much American womens’ lives are shaped by the public reaction to their bodies. Of course Kim is in the public eye more than most, having made her career as a reality star, but her reaction speaks volumes and will likely resonate with many non-famous women. The fact that she felt the need to alternately discredit the photos (which, for the record, show a very normal amount of cellulite for a real woman’s body), blame herself for appearing on the beach without having worked out in 12 weeks, and finally, completely reinvent her approach to diet and exercise because a few supposedly unflattering photos came out is deeply troubling.

Ultimately, we hope Kim is doing whatever is right for her health and her body, rather than just chasing a thinner figure to please the relentlessly critical media. We’d love it if she could take a cue from other celebs like Ashley Graham and Rihanna who have no time to listen to the haters.

Photo Credit: Getty / Stefanie Keenan