Latest news with #RemiBader
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The WORST dressed celebs at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue launch party
Reality stars, influencers, and models gathered to celebrate the launch of the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in New York on Thursday - but not everyone looked the part. As expected, the women didn't hold back with their glitzy, and sometimes revealing, looks on the red carpet. From plunging necklines and sheer fabric to dangerously high splits, the fashion on display left little to the imagination and in some cases completely missed the mark. Leading the faux pas was social media star Remi Bader who wore a completely see-through black mesh dress that revealed her slimmed-down physique. The former plus-size influencer, who had bariatric surgery to lose weight after becoming famous, confidently flaunted her figure. Not to be outdone, fellow influencer Sarah Nicole Landry turned heads in a completely sheer bodysuit. The mom-of-four covered up her bottom half with a long black skirt but her breasts were still on full display and only covered by black tape. DJ and influencer Xandra Pohl showed off her cleavage and long legs in a flirty little frock which featured an oddly puffed out skirt. While model Lorena Duran was completely covered up in a long-sleeved dress with a high neck, the print featured a naked woman's torso which didn't quite make the impact she may have hoped for. Lauren Chan, a Canadian model and advocate for size inclusivity, is one of four women gracing the cover of this year's issue, joining Salma Hayek, gymnast Jordan Chiles, and college athlete Oliviia Dunne. Speaking to People, Chan said: 'I'm the first out lesbian on the cover - with her own cover - and how much that means to me makes that surprise feel so overwhelming. 'That's where I feel like the tears of joy and celebration and relief and community come from.' Many fans have congratulated Chan, while others questioned why it was even being discussed at all. Such people have left comments that read: 'How is her sex life anybody's business?' and 'It's 2025. Nobody cares.' Another user wrote, 'She's beautiful. Why can't we just focus on the cover? Why is it all about sexuality? Smh.' Sports Illustrated has faced similar criticism in recent years for breaking traditional beauty standards. In 2020, Valentina Sampaio became the first transgender model to feature in the issue and in 2021, Leyna Bloom became the first transgender cover star, followed by pop star Kim Petras landing a cover in 2023. Chan herself fired back at critics after someone left a dismissive comment on a photo from her shoot for the mag which shows her posing on a Bermudan beach in an off-white lace two-piece. Hitting the mark: Renee Herbert and Elisha Herbert proudly flaunted their slender figures in stunning sheer gowns Chan posted a screenshot of the remark, left by an Instagram user named Caiser Hogan, who wrote, 'Who are they even doing this for anymore? Women?? This makes zero sense.' In the post, Chan responded, 'This is exactly why I show up in this space with my full chest.' She added that the magazine is meant for women - for representation and inspiration - not as 'an objectifying catalogue of fantasy for patriarchal pawns.' In a second slide, she added: 'Wait 'til he finds out I'm a lesbian.' In the caption, Chan explained that the comment 'struck a chord with me' and said she deliberately left it up for everyone to see. She wrote: 'The inclusion of myself and other folks that represent minorities in SI Swimsuit signifies an evolution in how women are allowed to exist in this society and which women deserve respect.' Chan continued: 'This man is insinuating that because I am a size 14, Asian and Middle Eastern, a lesbian, etc., that I am unattractive to him individually and that therefore no man, based on the patriarchal beauty standard, could deem me worthy of being in this publication.' The influencer went on to explain that the magazine is helping to redefine beauty 'through the female gaze,' and that every woman should feel seen in its pages. She said: 'It is not an outdated, objectifying catalogue of fantasy for patriarchal pawns. If that makes men feel irrelevant and angry enough to throw a tantrum in my comments ... I see no issue publicly and permanently addressing them.' She signed off her rebuttal to the comment by throwing her full support behind the magazine's mission, writing that she believes in it 'with [her] whole heart,' and said: 'SI Swimsuit 2025 is for the girls.'
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sports Illustrated's WORST dressed celebs on Swimsuit Issue launch party red carpet
Reality stars, influencers and models turned out in droves for the launch of the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in New York on Thursday. As expected, the women didn't hold back when it came to pushing the envelope on the red carpet. From plunging necklines and sheer fabric to dangerously high splits, the fashion on display left little to the imagination. Social media star Remi Bader was hard to miss in a completely see-through black dress that revealed her slimmed-down physique. The former plus-size influencer, who had bariatric surgery to lose weight after becoming famous, confidently flaunted her slim figure as she cycled through various poses. Not to be outdone, fellow influencer Sarah Nicole Landry turned heads in a completely sheer bodysuit. The mom-of-four added a black skirt to the look, but her breasts were still on full display and only covered by black tape. Cover girl Livvy Dunne put on a cheeky display in an unbelievably short mini-dress that could barely cover up her derriere. DJ and influencer Xandra Pohl showed off her cleavage and long legs in a flirty little frock, while Australian model Elisha Herbert dared to bare in a sheer skin tight dress. Spanish model Lorena Duran was completely covered in a long-sleeved dress with a high neck, but the print on the garment featured a naked woman's torso. Lauren Chan, a Canadian model and advocate for size inclusivity, is one of four women gracing the cover of this year's issue, joining Salma Hayek, gymnast Jordan Chiles, and college athlete Livvy Dunne. 'I'm the first out lesbian on the cover — with her own cover — and how much that means to me makes that surprise feel so overwhelming,' Chan told People. 'That's where I feel like the tears of joy and celebration and relief and community come from.' Many fans rushed to congratulate her, while others questioned why it was even being discussed at all, posting comments like, 'How is her sex life anybody's business?' and 'It's 2025. Nobody cares.' Livvy Dunne and Denise Bidot both showed off their derrieres on the red carpet Not to be outdone, fellow influencer Sarah Nicole Landry turned heads in a completely sheer bodysuit and black skirt Mature model Maye Musk looked flirty and elegant in a hot pink feathered frock Another user wrote, 'She's beautiful. Why can't we just focus on the cover? Why is it all about sexuality? Smh.' Sports Illustrated has faced similar criticism in recent years for breaking traditional beauty standards. In 2020, Valentina Sampaio became the first transgender model featured in the issue. In 2021, Leyna Bloom became the first transgender cover star, followed by pop star Kim Petras landing a cover in 2023. Chan herself even fired back at critics. The body positivity advocate took to social media after someone left a dismissive comment on a photo from her return to the magazine, which shows her posing on a Bermudan beach in an off-white lace two-piece. She posted a screenshot of the remark, left by an Instagram user named Caiser Hogan, who wrote, 'Who are they even doing this for anymore? Women?? This makes zero sense.' Chan didn't hold back. In the post, she responded, 'This is exactly why I show up in this space with my full chest.' She added that the magazine is meant for women — for representation and inspiration — not as 'an objectifying catalogue of fantasy for patriarchal pawns.' In a second slide, she cheekily added, 'wait 'til he finds out I'm a lesbian.' In the caption, Chan explained the comment 'struck a chord with me' and said she deliberately left it up for everyone to see. 'The inclusion of myself and other folks that represent minorities in SI Swimsuit signifies an evolution in how women are allowed to exist in this society and which women deserve respect,' she wrote. 'This man is insinuating that because I am a size 14, Asian and Middle Eastern, a lesbian, etc., that I am unattractive to him individually and that therefore no man, based on the patriarchal beauty standard, could deem me worthy of being in this publication.' Chan went on to explain that the magazine is helping to redefine beauty 'through the female gaze,' and that every woman should feel seen in its pages. 'It is not an outdated, objectifying catalogue of fantasy for patriarchal pawns. If that makes men feel irrelevant and angry enough to throw a tantrum in my comments ... I see no issue publicly and permanently addressing them,' she said. She signed off by throwing her full support behind the magazine's mission, writing that she believes in it 'with [her] whole heart,' and declaring: 'SI Swimsuit 2025 is for the girls.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
In the $250B influencer industry, being a hater can be the only way to rein in bad behavior
Since 2020, content creator Remi Bader had accumulated millions of TikTok followers by offering her opinions on the fits of popular clothing brands as a plus-size woman. In 2023, however, Bader appeared noticeably thinner. When some fans asked her whether she'd undergone a procedure, she blocked them. Later that year, she announced that she would no longer be posting about her body. Enter snark subreddits. On Reddit, these forums exist for the sole purpose of calling out internet celebrities, whether they're devoted to dinging the late-night antics of self-described 'hot mess' Alix Earle or venting over Savannah and Cole LaBrant, a family vlogging couple who misleadingly implied that their daughter had cancer. While the internet is synonymous with fan culture, snark subreddits aren't for enthusiasts. Instead, snarkers are anti-fans who hone the art of hating. After Bader's refusal to talk about her weight loss, the Remi Bader snark subreddit blew up. Posters weren't upset that Bader had lost weight or had stopped posting about her body size. Instead, they believed Bader the influencer, who'd built her brand on plus-size inclusion in fashion, wasn't being straight with her fans and needed to be taken to account. It worked. During a March 2025 appearance on Khloe Kardashian's podcast, Bader finally revealed that she had, in fact, had weight-loss surgery. Some critics see snarkers as a big problem and understandably denounce their tendency to harass, body shame and try to cancel influencers. But completely dismissing snark glosses over the fact that it can serve a purpose. In our work as social media researchers, we've written about how snark can actually be thought of as a way to call out bad actors in the largely unregulated world of influencing and content creation. Before there were influencers, there were bloggers. While bloggers covered topics that ranged from entertainment to politics to travel, parenting and fashion bloggers probably have the closest connection to today's influencers. After Google introduced AdSense in 2003, bloggers were easily able to run advertising on their websites. Then brands saw an opportunity. Parenting and fashion bloggers had large, loyal followings. Many readers felt an intimate connection to their favorite bloggers, who seemed more like friends than out-of-touch celebrity spokespersons. Brands realized they could send bloggers their products in exchange for a write-up or a feature. Furthermore, advertisers understood that parenting and fashion bloggers didn't have to adhere to the same industry regulations or code of ethics as most news media outlets, such as disclosing payments or conflicts of interest. This changed the dynamic between bloggers and their fans, who wondered whether bloggers could be trusted if they were sometimes being paid to promote certain products. In response, websites emerged in 2009 to critique bloggers. 'Get Off My Internets,' for example, fashioned itself as a 'quality control watchdog' to provide constructive criticism and call out deceptive practices. As Instagram and YouTube became more popular, the subreddit 'r/Blogsnark' launched in 2015 to critique early influencers, in addition to bloggers. Today the influencer industry has a valuation of over US$250 billion in the U.S. alone, and it's on track to be worth over $500 billion by 2027. Yet there are few regulations in place for influencers. A few laws have emerged to protect child influencers, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has established legal guidelines for sponsored content. That said, the influencing industry remains rife with exploitation. It goes both ways: Corporations can exploit influencers. For example, a 2021 study found that Black influencers receive below-market offers compared with white influencers. Likewise, influencers can deceive or exploit their followers. They might use unrealistic body filters to appear thinner than they are. They could hide who's paying them. They may promote health misinformation such as the controversial ParaGuard cleanse, a fake treatment pushed by wellness influencers that claimed to rid its users of parasites. Or, in the case of Remi Bader, they might gain a huge following by promoting body positivity, only to conceal a weight-loss procedure from their fans. For disappointed fans or followers who feel burned, snark can seem like the only regulatory guardrail in an industry that has gone largely unchecked. Think of snark as a Better Business Bureau for the untamable world of influencing – a form of accountability that brings attention to the scammers and hustlers. Todays's snark exists at the intersection of gossip and cancel culture. Though cancel culture certainly has its faults, we approach cancel culture in our writing as a worthy tool that allows audiences to hold the powerful accountable. For example, communities of color have joined forces to call out racists, as they did in 2024 when they exposed lifestyle influencer Brooke Schofield's anti-Black tweets. Influencers build trust with their audiences based on being 'real' and relatable. But there's nothing preventing them from breaking that trust, and snarkers can swoop in to point out bad behavior or hypocrisy. Within the competitive world of family vlogging, snarkers see themselves as doing more than stirring the pot. They're truth-tellers who bring injustices to light, such as abuse and child labor exploitation. Some of this exposure is paying off, with more and more states introducing and passing family vlogger laws that require children to one day receive a portion of their parents' earnings or restrict how often children can appear in their parents' videos. Yes, snark can veer into cyberbullying. But that shouldn't discount its value as a tool for transparency. Influencers are ultimately brands. They sell audiences ideas, lifestyles and products. When people feel as if they've been misled, we think they have every right to call it out. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Jessica Maddox, University of Alabama and Jess Rauchberg, Seton Hall University Read more: Gossip is a social skill – not a character flaw US states are finally starting to put in place protections for the kids of family vloggers With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor Jess Rauchberg receives funding from Microsoft Research. Jessica Maddox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Remi Bader and Her Father Address Their 'Strained' Relationship in a Candid Sitdown
Remi Bader is reflecting on her past alongside her dad, Gary Bader. In a recent video shared on TikTok and Instagram, the 30-year-old influencer sat beside her father to discuss their relationship as she dealt with her weight through the years amid her health journey. The video was made for transparency, despite what her followers may perceive from her content shared online. "I don't want people to think that we're this perfect, laughing, smiling family," she began in the clip uploaded on Sunday, April 20. Bader, who revealed last month that she underwent bariatric surgery to lose weight in December 2023, reemphasized in the post that she put "a lot" of her "boundaries up" when it came to sharing things on the internet in recent years. Related: Remi Bader Says She's Finally Feeling Like Her 'Self Again' After Publicly Revealing Weight Loss Surgery "The past few days my dad and I have been discussing if this was something we'd both be comfortable enough sharing publicly," Bader's caption for the video read. "I think it's definitely a lot, but hopefully sharing some of this can be relatable to what some other people are going through or have gone through with their parents or a family member and struggles they're navigating with them," it concluded. In "part one" of the video, Bader — who was sitting alongside her dad throughout the eight-minute clip — said they had "not gotten along as well" and "not been as close" since COVID. "A lot of that is build up of things you said to me in regards to my weight and eating and all these things since I've been little," she shared beside her father. However, she said he might not have thought of his words as "bad" or "harmful" at the time. "I think as women grow up... and then you start getting those things from men, or friends or mean people or people online over the years and you start connecting that back to your childhood," she said. Bader recalled the COVID era as a specific time they "weren't getting along" since they were all "forced to live together" during the lockdown. While she said her dad remembered it as "happy, amazing time," she recalls "struggling" due to comments made about food. Sitting beside each other in the clip, the father-daughter duo then began to recall specific memories and instances that were triggers for Bader. "I remember you coming in from the garage and being like, 'Now I have to freaking hide my chips and put everything in the garage so you don't have to eat them because you can't control yourself,'" she recalled her dad saying to her. Related: Remi Bader Breaks Silence on Weight Loss as She Reveals She Had Bariatric Surgery Bader revealed that "not last Christmas, but the Christmas before" she set her boundaries and stopped talking to her dad for seven months. She remembered going through her "worst time" at that point, including physical "pain" from her back. Gary agreed with Bader's recollection of his memory of the COVID times. "My memories are amazingly great," he admits of that period, adding, "And I don't remember some of the things that Remi brought up that were negative." Upon returning to "normalcy" coming out of the pandemic, Gary said he started to get "stressed" in different ways by both personal and professional factors. "It became an issue for me. My relationship with Remi was strained, and my relationship in my marriage was a little bit strained, and I decided to go see what I could do to go help myself," he shared. Related: Remi Bader Addresses Rumors About Her Weight Loss Surgery in Bikini-Clad Video Gary revealed that he attended Onsite therapy in Tennessee for five days of "intensive therapy," where he worked with a therapist to "dig back" into his "past life, current life and issues." It involved six hours of individual therapy and two hours of group therapy a day. "It was probably one of the most amazing things I had ever done in my life," he admitted. One of the "main things" he got out of the intensive therapy was that his words "in the moment" could have a "two minute meaning" to him, but could "strike a chord" with someone like his daughter. "I think that daughters have certain sensitivity to their fathers saying it even more so than their mother's saying it... I think it has more of a negative impact if the father says it," he put forth. Bader used a few full-circle moments as examples that have happened with men in relationships, noting that they'd say hurtful comments that would take her back to those specific times in her childhood. "Like, my own dad was saying that to me... now how am I supposed to feel," she said. Related: Remi Bader Claps Back at Critics Who Say She Took the 'Easy Way Out' with Weight Loss Surgery Towards the end of the video, Bader continued to open up more about her relationship with her parents in response to questions her followers have messaged her about their dynamic. "I think that it's a two-way street, so this isn't all the blame on you," Bader told her dad. "I felt like I was doing the work on it for a while, so I felt like you needed to be doing something in order for us to then work on it together. To conclude the video, Bader let her followers know that they are only seeing a "glimpse" of her life on social media, not the full picture behind the scenes. Related: Remi Bader Breaks Silence on Weight Loss as She Reveals She Had Bariatric Surgery Since publicly revealing to Self in March that she underwent weight loss surgery, Bader has been open about the mixed response she has received in the months that followed. Nearly one month later, the fashion influencer revealed that she's starting to feel like herself again. "Everyone in my dms saying 'she's back!!!' is making me so happy because I feel that fully and the past few days i've been really feeling like freaky silly self again," Bader wrote over a selfie posted on April 16. The message was in response to a slew of comments Bader received from followers on her latest Instagram on April 10, which saw her return to her traditional try-on hauls. "Sorry if that sounds lame af," she continued, adding. "Not really sorry at all." Read the original article on People
Vox
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Vox
How an influencer's weight loss triggered an internet meltdown
is a culture writer interested in reality TV, movies, pop music, Black media, and celebrity culture. Previously, she wrote for the Daily Beast and contributed to several publications, including Vulture, W Magazine, and Bitch Media. By the time Remi Bader, who built her career as a plus-size influencer with over 2 million followers on TikTok, went on Khloé Kardashian's podcast to address her smaller body, it had been subject to nearly a year and a half of speculation. Fans were certain Bader had betrayed them, but exactly how and in what way was up for debate: Had she pumped the body positivity movement for cash and then turned her back on it by getting thin? Was the real problem that she owed it to her followers to explain how she had lost the weight? On Khloe in Wonderland, Bader revealed that she had undergone weight-loss surgery for numerous mental and physical health reasons, including a binge-eating disorder, a 100-pound weight gain, and chronic back pain. She also shared what she describes as the 'brutal' recovery experience after getting a bariatric procedure known as SADI-S, or single anastomosis duodeno-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy. The procedure caused weeks of incessant vomiting and even led her to contemplate suicide. These harrowing revelations failed to stop the backlash; indeed, it had only just begun. For better or worse, the way we discuss weight loss has changed dramatically. Historically, shedding pounds garnered an automatic congratulations (see Oprah and her wheelbarrow of fat in 1988, or Valerie Bertinelli's Jenny Craig ads almost two decades later). But a conversation that morphed with the body positivity movement of the 2010s — finally cheering women for the bodies they already had — has only grown more complicated with the rise of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. The use of these Type 2 diabetes medications for weight loss has sparked ethical concerns regarding access to the drug for people with diabetes. It's also prompted an even louder panic around what it means to be a certain weight. For many, the drug's popularity signals a return to the narrow beauty standards of the '90s and 2000s and a reversal of more recent attitudes. While thinness has never truly gone out of style, the previous decade saw the rise of BBLs and a certain type of curvy body being celebrated in mainstream culture. Now, in a phenomenon born out of rightful frustration that impossible beauty standards are making a comeback, people have seemingly never been more comfortable interrogating people's bodies and the choices they make for them. When a body belongs to the internet Despite the backlash — and the raw, upsetting details — Bader's interview arguably makes for a refreshing listen. It's a departure from the more neatly packaged, 'inspirational' weight-loss stories that the public has come to expect from celebrities, including Kardashian. Celebrity weight-loss narratives are often framed as moral accomplishments and acts of discipline, while Bader's was positioned as more of a struggle to survive. It felt extremely on-brand for Bader, whose brutal honesty about navigating the world as a plus-size woman made her internet-famous. Bader initially gained a following back in 2020 doing 'realistic hauls.' In these videos, Bader tries on clothing from popular brands, demonstrating how awkwardly they fit her body compared to the models on the websites. These funny, personable (if not entirely original) videos propelled her to millions of followers and a profitable but precarious level of fame: the parasocial BFF. As a plus-size person on an app dominated by size-2 influencers and flooded with the latest weight-loss trends, she was able to cut through the noise. Inevitably, she transcended the role of a personality. A 2023 interview with Bader in People called her the face of the body positivity movement, while Allure hailed her as TikTok's 'hero of plus-size fashion.' So when Bader began getting visibly smaller last year, posting workout videos without disclosing her surgery, she was met with skepticism. Many of her fans were confused and disappointed, given that she no longer seemed to fall under the category of 'plus-size influencer.' Bader now admits she wasn't sure how to initially address all the speculation and anger from fans. In the wake of her tell-all interview, several followers say that Bader blocked them when they inquired about the drastic weight loss in her comments section. These are just some of the criticisms being hurled at Bader after disclosing her weight-loss surgery: that she responded poorly to fans' concerns, that she's no longer relatable, that she betrayed her following, that she used an underserved group to gain money and fame. Related The year of Ozempic bodies and Barbie Botox Even those defending Bader's right to lose weight have described the entire fallout as a branding disaster. Content creator Franchesca Ramsey said in a TikTok that Bader made a 'crucial mistake' in her lack of transparency and mass blocking: 'She completely abandoned the core tenets of her brand: being honest, being plus-sized, and being relatable.' Celebrity weight loss has never been more complicated While these responses are all a bit reductive and ignore the personal factors that led Bader to getting surgery, they're not surprising. In fact, they demonstrate a collective discomfort around celebrity weight loss that feels especially apparent in the age of Ozempic. Bader embarking on a press tour, including a profile in Self, to disclose her weight-loss journey is a bit of a rarity nowadays. For the most part, the era of famous people participating in magazine profiles devoted to their weight loss and divulging their diets on talk shows are gone. The few media figures eager to share at least some of the secrets behind their body transformations are Oprah Winfrey and occasionally the Kardashians. Winfrey, specifically, has long dedicated her former talk show, magazine, and other platforms to sharing her struggles with weight gain and her methods for weight loss. Most recently, she stepped down from her decade-long position as a board member for WeightWatchers after she disclosed that she was using an unnamed weight-loss medication. Last year, she hosted a TV special about the impact of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. More and more, public figures are adopting a code of silence around their physical appearances. The general rule that 'you shouldn't comment on other people's bodies' has become a way for celebrities — like Ariana Grande, for example — to shut down online speculation and unwanted press. (It's rarely ever effective.) Others, like Adele, have defended their weight loss as a personal choice that doesn't need explanation. Oprah Winfrey hosting 'An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution' on March 18, 2024. Eric McCandless/Disney Meanwhile, the occasional celebrity who chooses to share their weight loss is prone to intense criticism. This is evident beyond the backlash to Bader. Lizzo, another voice for body positivity, has publicized her weight-loss goals on social media over the past year and has garnered similar comments to Bader claiming that she's abandoning her previously 'inclusive' brand. In a post-Ozempic climate, weight loss is taken personally by fans, especially those who saw their size represented by someone famous and admired; that size then shrinking is looked at as contributing to a more anti-fat culture. Related Obesity in the age of Ozempic Health and culture writer Mikala Jamison, who writes the newsletter Body Type, sees the overwhelmingly negative reaction to public weight losses like Bader's as 'overcorrection to diet culture.' 'It's understandable why people are very up in arms, or just concerned, about diet culture and this pursuit of thinness that we're seeing more of,' Jamison said. 'It's good, and we need that. But people feel as though they're performing some kind of activism by just talking about how this person's skinny now, or [saying] 'I'm worried about this person.'' In Bader's case, the knee-jerk reaction from her following especially feels like a missed opportunity, given all of the information she divulged. Her experience as a plus-size person in the public eye speaks to something Jamison says we all know but find it hard to talk about: 'If you have ever in your life been truly fat, or experienced personal and systemic bias because of your weight, that's incredibly hard.' Maybe it's because Bader's weight-loss story emphasizes this reality so starkly that it's been difficult for social media to really engage with it. On one hand, she dispelled the dream that she sold to her followers, that she could be both comfortable and successful in a bigger body — although that doesn't mean that it's impossible for others. She also demonstrated how tough losing weight and treating an eating disorder can be, even with significant resources. In her Self profile, Bader said she tried a laundry list of treatments, including antidepressants, Ozempic, other weight-loss medications, and Overeaters Anonymous meetings. After getting off of Ozempic, she said her binge-eating disorder 'came back with a vengeance.' Even as Bader speaks about her post-surgery body, she sounds unsure about the future. 'I think it helped me, but will it help me in a year?' she told Self. 'What if I gain all the weight back? What if I get sick from the [lack of] nutrients? I'm not a doctor. I don't have it all figured out.' Despite claims that she's abandoned her old persona, it didn't feel like Bader was unveiling a new version of herself. It was instead a continuation of the same message she relayed in her try-on hauls: that having a body, particularly a plus-size one, can be hard. Now, making changes to that body publicly — with all the judgment that comes with it — might be even harder.
