As a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, Camille Kostek is no stranger to posting photos of herself in a bikini, but one recent picture sparked a wave of bodyshaming so bad, she decided to speak out.
Kostek and her boyfriend, Rob Gronkowski, were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when Kostek posted a shot of herself posing in a neon green bikini, captioned with a simple fish emoji.
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One week later, the model used her Instagram Story to open up about the negative comments she received on the post, explaining in a tearful video that she decided to discuss the situation to help other women who might be feeling similarly.
“I can’t begin to explain how many rude comments I got after I posted this photo about my body. But for the women who I was able to help love who they are more from it, I post without hesitation for myself and for YOU,” she wrote before explaining in a video that the photo “sparked an uproar of opinions on my body, both good and bad.”
“I’ve been sitting on this for a few days, deciding if I was going to share this, and I decided that I’m going to share a little bit of the things that I had seen,” she said, following the video with screenshots of comments people had made on her own post and on articles that had been written about her photo, which included messages like “Gross” and “Large girl. Big through the hips.”
“I was having a weak moment and allowed some of the comments to get to me that night. I was very emotional,” Kostek captioned a video she had taken of herself crying after initially reading the negative feedback.
“I would never and have never [before] picked up the phone and filmed myself crying, but I’m very happy that I have it because I’m able to look back on it and reflect and see how upset I was that these comments rattled me to the point that I was so hysterical,” she added in a new video. “But I’m also able to look at that and see myself in so much pain, and realize that that was just a small moment in time and by people that I don’t give a f— about.”
The former NFL cheerleader explained that while she doesn’t normally get so affected by negative comments, something was different this time, but that the experience has helped her develop thicker skin.
“These people are s—. They’re so small-minded,” she said. “There’s so many underlying reasons as to why people say the things that they do, but I’m just coming on here and sharing my experience just from one time, because we are our own biggest critics.”
“I’m going to keep posting bikini photos when I feel like it,” Kostek concluded. “And it’s just the cherry on top when I get emails and messages from you saying that I inspire you and I encourage you to love the skin that you’re in. That’s why I do it.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Alexander Tamargo
