Wild reason this pic angered football fans

Herald Sun

17 hours ago

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A plus sized model has hit back following the worst trolling experience of her life, after being mistaken for the girlfriend of a popular English soccer player.
Felicity Hayward, 37, was Britain's 'OG plus sized model' after being discovered by photographer Miles Aldridge in 2011. Recently, the influencer and activist shared a snap with Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice after attending an event for the football club and Adidas.
'Finishing a very fun day with the third kit house party with Declan Rice & @adidasuk,' Hayward captioned the images of the duo smiling arm in arm.
As a huge Arsenal fan, Hayward accepted the opportunity of a meet and greet that was being offered at the event and had her picture taken with Rice. She shared it to Instagram and within 12 hours it had gone viral for 'all the wrong reasons'.
Hayward said it culminated in the worst trolling she has ever experienced throughout her 14-year career as a model and content creator.
Felicity Hayward shared a snap with Declan Rice from an event. Picture: Instagram/Felicity Hayward
One man posted this comment: 'Model girlfriends and wives and my boy Decs is stuck with this. I feel for you my boy. Know your worth and leave no one is gonna blame you.'
Another said: 'Looks like his type … loves a fridge.'
Hayward was understandably stunned at the vitriol aimed at her, just like Rice's long term partner Lauren Fryer has experienced. Fryer, who has been with Rice since they were teenagers and have a three-year-old together, ended up having to delete her social media accounts in April last year due to continuous abuse about her appearance and claims Rice could 'do better'.
'There are hundreds of comments about my appearance and my weight — 95 per cent of them are utterly disgusting and they're coming from full grown men,' Hayward said.
She said the horrific trolls have wrongly made the assumption 'using their last brain cell' that she is Rice's partner Lauren Fryer.
She was trolled as a result. Picture: Instagram/Felicity Hayward
'Now, Lauren is absolutely gorgeous and the issue isn't that people are suggesting I am her. It's about the fact that whether it is me or her in the image, they're using this opportunity to try and drag a woman down for her appearance,' she said.
'It's no wonder she left social media due to the amount of abuse that she got in the last couple of years.'
Hayward said football is supposed to be about community, and if men aren't complaining about how women look they are complaining about England's Lionesses — the female football team — winning the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 final.
'I am not Declan Rice's girlfriend. There is nothing wrong with my weight, or his long term partner Lauren's,' she said.
'Just keep your mouth shut babe.'
Declan Rice and Lauren Fryer have been dating since they were teenagers. Picture: Instagram
The abuse of Rice's actual partner Fryer appeared to begin in December 2023, when Rice was told that he 'could do better'. After five months of constant trolling, Fryer eventually wiped every photo from her account that boasted 70,000 followers. Love Island star Liberty Poole stepped in to defend Fryer, who is Rice's biggest supporter.
'I think she's beautiful this is crazy,' Poole wrote.
'What happened to celebrating different body types and embracing how we are all individually made.
'Beauty standards these days are unrealistic and everyone's gone mad because of social media.
'I'm going to keep preaching about it till I die. Time for change, this can't continue.'
These gross comments aren't solely a Premiere League problem. Earlier this year, North Melbourne AFL Player Toby Pink married his childhood sweetheart Chloe after eight years together.
However, when the newly married Mrs Pink shared her wedding photos, the comments were frankly vile.
Fryer had to delete her social media after being bullied about her appearance. Picture: Instagram
The comments on a celebratory article about their nuptials became about Mrs Pink's weight, to the point that AI summarised that the response was about 'beauty standards' rather than their wedding day.
It feels important to point out that the comments weren't just critical of Mrs Pink's weight. They were cruel, degrading and hateful. And they were appearing faster than anyone could delete them, or possibly manage the situation.
Someone called her a 'fridge,' another wrote, 'AFL player by day, pig hunter by night,' and one comment claimed she looked more like an AFL player than a bride.
It left the 25-year-old human resources worker in a flood of tears, as she is not a public figure in any capacity, except for the fact that it turned out the man she fell in love with was decent at kicking a ball. It wasn't the first time Mrs Pink had faced some of these comments. She'd received similar slurs after attending AFL's night of nights, the Brownlows. This was just a whole new level.
Mrs Pink, who is between a size 14 and 16, which is the average size of an Aussie woman, said perhaps the saddest part of the response to her wedding photos is that it was one of the few times she posted something online and didn't feel insecure about her weight.
Originally published as Wild reason this pic angered football fans