In the wake of The New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” Kim Kardashian West is reflecting on her own experiences with the media shaming her when she was pregnant with her eldest child, North, 7.
In a series of Instagram Stories Friday, Kardashian West said she finally watched the documentary and sympathized with Spears after seeing how big of a role the media played in her life and how “very traumatizing” it can be.
“No matter how public someone’s life may seem, no one deserves to be treated with such cruelty or judgment for entertainment,” Kardashian West wrote.
The “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star reflected on when she felt similarly, recalling when she was pregnant with North West in 2013 and suffered from preeclampsia, which caused her to gain 60 pounds and go into labor over a month early. She said she cried “every single day” over the changes happening to her body and the pressures of society expecting her to look a certain way “as well as being compared to Shamu the Whale by the media.”
The mom of four shared a series ofold tabloid cover stories thathoned in on specific parts of her body, some highlighting“back and elbow fat” along with pictures of her eating. The magazine covers came with headlines like “Dumped at 200lbs,” “Paid To Get Fat,” and “Kim’s Body Struggle.” Some outlets compared Kardashian West to Kate Middleton, who was pregnant with Prince George at the same time, with headlines like “Kate the Waif vs Kim the Whale.”
Kim Kardashian sympathizes with Britney Spears, says the media also shamed her:
“no one deserves to be treated with such cruelty or judgement for entertainment. Looking back at my own experiences, I remember a time when I felt this way” pic.twitter.com/pnsthFiXVL
“Looking at all the photos of myself online and in magazines made me so insecure and I had this fear of wondering if I would ever get my pre baby body back,” she wrote. “Luckily I was able to take these frustrating, embarrassing feelings and channel it into motivation to get me where I am today, but to say this didn’t take a toll on me mentally would be a lie.”
She encouraged those in the “business of shaming and bullying someone” to reconsider their methods and try to be kind and understanding because “you just never know what someone is going through.”
The recent Britney Spears documentary examines the rise of the 39-year-old pop star, her mental health challenges, inappropriate treatment by an unrelenting media and the discord over her conservatorship, controlled largely by her father, Jamie Spears.
Amid social media uproar and speculation surrounding her wellbeing, earlier this month Spears shared on social media that she’s focused on being “a normal person.”
“I’ll always love being on stage,” Spears captioned a throwback video of herself performing “Toxic” three years ago. “But I am taking the time to learn and be a normal person… I love simply enjoying the basics of every day life!”
Spears advised her fans to take what they see with a grain of salt, reminding her devoted followers that “each person has their story and their take on other people’s stories.”
“We all have so many different bright beautiful lives,” she wrote. “Remember, no matter what we think we know about a person’s life it is nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens!”
Contributing: Erin Jensen
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