A couple of days ago, I felt so relieved. I saw this tweet of an unretouched picture of Cindy Crawford in lingerie.
It was as if Cindy Crawford was telling me it's ok to be me.
It's ok to have a belly that jiggles.
It's ok to have some dimples in places other than my face.
It's ok to show the body's remnants of birthing babies.
It's ok to show the nature-made tattoos of living life!
With her unretouched lingerie picture, Cindy Crawford made me (and probably you) feel like we all kinda look the same. Wow. What an exciting, awesome, phenomenal, welcomed and needed realization!
A couple of days ago, Cindy Crawford told me she is proud of her body.
A couple of days ago, Cindy Crawford told me to be proud of mine.
The reaction across social media was astounding.
On my Facebook page and Instagram feed the response to her picture was hundreds of likes and so many comments about how extraordinary she is. Other comments talked about how grateful we are for this picture.
Cindy Crawford liberated thousands (maybe more!) of women by posting her unretouched lingerie picture!
Except that she didn't.
It is now reported that Cindy Crawford did NOT want that unretouched photo of her shown or shared. It was NOT from an upcoming issue of Marie Claire. In fact, It was a picture from a shoot almost two years ago. This photo was leaked by some a-hole. And our collective giddiness is now regrettable.
Cindy Crawford is the epitome of whom so many women believe we want to be.
She is smart.
She is accomplished.
She is a devoted mother.
She is a wife.
She is insanely gorgeous.
And Cindy Crawford is probably just as insecure as we are.
I bet this whole unretouched picture's going viral is probably one of her biggest nightmares.
So many of us saw her picture, and thinking she had authorized its distribution, we shared it, and its message, loudly.
We felt validated.
Self loathing be gone!
Let our imperfect bodies shine!
Let's wear bikinis without perfectly taut tummies.
Let's shine bright like a diamond even if we're rough around the edges.
Let's own our sexy exactly as we are.
Now I have mixed feelings about all of it. On the one hand, I feel rage against the person who violated Cindy Crawford's trust by leaking the picture. On the other hand, I feel grateful to have seen such an honest picture.
To Cindy Crawford,
We see you as the pinnacle of aging gracefully whether retouched or not. And I hope you realize what service this picture has done for so many of us. What may have been a cringeworthy chain of events for you, inspired millions of us and reminded us that we're worthy and lovable humans... flaws and all!