Catriona Gray broke her silence on body shaming and online bullying when she hosted a Q&A on Twitter on July 14.
When asked about Catriona’s take on body shaming, the beauty queen answered, “Body shaming is hurtful and [should] never be tolerated. If anyone reading this too has been [body shamed], I know how it feels. I'm sorry you've had to experience that. But [know] that you are more than your appearance. You are a capable, unique, and worthy person. And you are never alone.”
Catriona did not provide a specific example of when she became a target of body shaming. However, on July 6, Thai beauty queen Coco Arayha Suparurk sparked outrage among netizens when she posted an Instagram Story where she called Catriona “fat.”
One of the questions that Catriona was asked is her stand on online bullying. Catriona said she stands firmly against all forms of bullying and bashing whether online or offline. “It is never, ever okay to put someone down for the sake of ‘expressing your opinion.’ With words come power and we should be using those words to build someone up and not pull them down,” Catriona said.
Another Twitter user asked Catriona for advice because she’s having trouble loving who she is because of her body. Catriona gave sound advice as she said, “You are so much more than your body!”
For those struggling with confidence, Catriona gave out words of encouragement as she said, “Confidence isn’t something you're born with or that people "just have." [It’s] like a ‘muscle’ that you have to decide to use and it strengthens the more you work on it. so continue to work on yourself, embrace your uniqueness and be kind and positive!”
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