“Growing Up Hip Hop” star and daughter of hip-hop royalty, Rev Run, Angela Simmons trending and receiving tons of praise for sharing unedited bikini snaps of herself taken during Miami Swim Week 2022. The destination event usually features tons of models who flaunt their incredibly fit and somewhat-unattainable bodies. Many models nowadays would share their edited, filter-filled pics of themselves to floss on social media.
But Simmons went another route.
She shared her beautiful, glistening body with all of its lumps, bumps, jiggle and marks. The response was overwhelmingly positive.
“Raw no edit. REAL bodies matter,” she captioned the two images showing her in a green bikini from the Matte Collection. The 34-year-old Angela added that, “Thick thighs save lives lol.”
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Following the post, fans celebrated the reality TV star and showered her with love for her body positivity. Gabrielle Union said Angela was “beautiful.”
Love & Hip-Hop star, Joseline, also chimed in with “Beautiful” and a heart-faced emoji.
“I think it’s so amazing and so inspiring for you to show real bodies, in real life, in real-time,” songwriter Angie Beyince said. “It’s bold & it’s brave! You are beautiful and what you’re doing is beautiful for so many girls & women.”
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Other fans applauded Angela for being unafraid to post images of her curves and natural body. Several of Angela’s 7.5 million fans said she was “gorgeous” and “real.”
Swim week has become a staple season focused on pushing for actual diversity on the runway. Shows across the board feature plus-size, sample, and mid-size models to walk their stage, which further helps highlight the narrative that all bodies are beach bodies. Matte Collection, founded in 2017, is amongst the brands that have been consistently spotlighting all types of bodies.
Joining Simmons on the runway were Miami native and rapper JT, of the hip-hop duo City Girls, content creator Achieng Agutu, and influencer Ari Fletcher.
But there were also other reactions to Simmons’ stunning photos that sparked some debate. “People saying ‘real bodies coming back in style’ after Angela Simmons dropped her raw photos is wild to me because what do y’all mean ‘back in style?’” one person tweeted, asking, “You know how many women out here rocking their real body and get body shamed?” citing Lizzo as an example.
That commenter was right. Body image issues are a real thing.
According to new online surveys that were conducted by the Mental Health Foundation, they showed that:
- One in five adults (20%) felt shame, just over one-third (34%) felt down or low, and 19% felt disgusted because of their body image in the last year.
- Among teenagers, 37% felt upset, and 31% felt ashamed in relation to their body image.
- Just over one-third of adults said they had
