The Bachelorette’s Ali Oetjen has shared an emotional post dedicated to her online bullies on Instagram, sharing a tearful selfie with her 174,000 followers.
Ali posted a makeup-free photo, with tears in her eyes, after she was criticised for posting an “edited” picture just one day before.
The 32-year-old star shared the below photo on Monday, and her comments were instantly flooded with people saying she had used too much ‘FaceTune’ and that she should wear less makeup.
On Tuesday Ali responded to the trolls about how their comments have affected her, but she also acknowledged that the photo had been edited because she didn’t think the original was ‘good enough.’
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“I started my workout at 5am this morning, earlier than usual because I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t sleep because online bullies comments hurt AND I disliked how so many comments on my recent post were right,” she wrote in the caption.
“I asked myself, why wasn’t my original photo good enough to share with the world?! At the time I thought, this photo of my face is not “pretty enough” I have an image to uphold & must make it look flawless!”
“It made me feel s–t!!” Ali continued in the post. “I don’t want to conform, I want to continue to inspire real women to love themselves for the bloody breathtaking beings that we are. This is me at this VERY moment, no make up, no filters or edits and I’m scared s—less to upload it, but want to so I prove my point that real is better, to share with you that I’m nowhere near perfect & that we all have similar feelings.
“I believe we all have our good and bad days (hopefully mostly good) but on the bad days like TODAY I cry because I’m not confident 24/7, I’m vulnerable, fragile & sensitive,” she wrote.
“To the bullies out there; I’m more engaged with my followers online than ever because of my business & so I read comments, react & reply. On my ‘good days’ my mindset stays strong that people’s comments are only a reflection of themselves. But on my bad days they HURT.”
Fans and supporters flocked to Ali’s post to show their support, including her boyfriend Taite Radley.
“Being strong doesn’t mean lifting the biggest weight,” he wrote. “Sometimes being strong means facing your biggest fears. I’m proud of you.”
Studio 10’s Sarah Harris wrote “F—k ’em babe. Use the block button!” and her Bachelor In Paradise co-star Luke McLeod commented “Powerful post Ali. This will make a lot of people stop and think.”
Taite left a supportive message on Ali’s post.
Ali receives support from Sarah Harris and Luke McLeod.
We love you, Ali!
