Canadian influencer Sarah Nicole Landry hits back at body shamer: 'You’ve been gaslit'

Sarah Nicole Landry is showing her critics compassion. On Sunday, the Canadian influencer, known as The Birds Papaya online, took to Instagram to show “grace” to someone who body shamed her. The 39-year-old shared a photo of herself sitting nude poolside along with a comment that said, “A little work will firm that body, but she needs a reason, cause right now, she is being told she’s already beautiful.”

In a series of slides, Landry addressed the comment and suggested her critic may only view women “as objects to be desired and not full and complete humans” with “an entire life outside of impressing men.” The mother-of-four speculated that their motivations for sharing a hurtful comment may have been as a by-product of a “society that taught you and me that there was only one acceptable body type to be celebrated” and considered beautiful.

“I think you’ve been gaslit to believe that beauty could be so limited,” Landry wrote. “But …I’ve already been there. Living in that belief system that to be beautiful meant hard, firm, yet small.”

Landry’s journey towards body neutrality came following a 100 pound-weight loss that was the result of her skipping meals and working out multiple times a day. Landry explained that despite becoming a “fitspo” (fitness inspiration), she was “simultaneously losing hair, freezing all time” and experiencing numbing in her legs.”

Landry explained that she was surprised to find she could heal from her former beliefs about needing to be thin to be considered beautiful. She went on to say she has felt beautiful in different moments of her life, including after the births of her children and walking the runway as a swimsuit model.

“I am showing you grace in this moment because I know what it’s like to believe in only one beauty,” she said. “I’m grateful for those who extended that same grace to me. Patience, too.”

Landry concluded her message by adding that she has “hope” that her critic will overcome their limiting beliefs about beauty.

“Because I can already imagine your surprise when you see it and you realize how beautiful it all really is,” she said. “That makes me excited for you. And the world. I hope you get there.”

The post earned praise from Landry’s followers who commended her for taking the high road.

"You blow me away with inspiration, each post more than the last,” one follower wrote. “Thank you for taking such a beautiful lead on body positivity. You are in fact, inherently beautiful — inside and out— since the moment you were born.”

“Empowering generations of women and changing the narrative and I love you so much for it,” another wrote.

“People are brave when they’re not showing their face, but their nastiness shows who they really are. Trolls should really stay under the bridge,” a follower said.

In September, Landry discussed the online bullying she received after going viral for her appearance during Miami Swim Week. The Guelph-Ont. based influencer's reel from the event earned more than 70 million views and more than 38,000 comments "weighing in" on her appearance.

"They'll be OK. We will be too. Hopefully, because we're too busy saying 'yes' to things to hear the voices otherwise," she wrote to Instagram. "I hope that we keep being the kind ones. The ones that encourage others to step out, not the ones telling others to go hide. I hope we're loud with our lives. In whatever way that matters to you. What a summer. I'm proud of us."

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