Kayleigh Kelley Obert is not big on crying. “I grew up with thick skin,” the 37-weeks-pregnant bodybuilder tells Us Weekly. But after months of being body-shamed, Obert reached her breaking point.
“Since the beginning of my pregnancy I’ve struggled with what others think is OK to say to me,” the 30-year-old wrote in a June 18 Instagram post that has since gone viral. “It started with ‘Your body will never be the same,’ ‘You need to eat more, or you baby will be be malnourished,’ ‘You’re pregnant just eat whatever you want,’ ‘Wow, you’ve really grown,’ ‘How’s my fat friend,’ ‘Wow, you’re really big, you won’t make it to you’re due date,’ ‘Should you be lifting still,’ ‘Good luck getting back to pregnancy.’”
But Obert — who has gained 40 pounds — said the worst thing was being called chubby. “That was the last of what I could handle,” wrote the Quincy, Illinois–based mom-to-be. “I started crying (which is SUPER rare for me). Since when did it become OK to say things like this to people, pregnant or not. I have never done this to anyone. And most of these are from men.”
Obert and her engineer husband, Jake Obert, plan to welcome their daughter Pearl Rose on August 1.
“My weight and body image are something I have struggled with throughout my pregnancy,” Obert tells Us. “The comments got to me because I was already thinking some of them myself.”
Making matters worse? The person who called Obert chubby was not a random internet troll. “It’s someone my husband and I know, and I was more worried about hurting this man’s feelings for being rude than my own,” she reveals. “But once we got to the car, I looked down at my swollen legs and hands. And I started crying.”
Obert knows she isn’t alone. “The comments I’ve received throughout my pregnancy are something every woman experiences,” she tells Us. “It is as though pregnancy is an open invitation for people to say whatever they want to you.”