It’s 2019, and we’re still shaming moms? Ugh, this is getting old, y’all!
Shay Mitchell recently posted a stunning picture of her breastfeeding during a photoshoot, and a “fan” decided to attack her for it.
Let’s just say she didn’t take that too well.
Shay Mitchell recently gave birth.
Shay and her boyfriend, Matte Babel, welcomed Atlas Noa in November.
They documented Shay’s entire pregnancy journey on YouTube, and boy, was it a roller coaster.
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She documented her entire pregnancy on YouTube.
On the series, Almost Real , she showed off every side of her pregnancy.
In one episode, she and her husband Matte had a passionate debate about whether or not she would get an epidural during the birth.
His reason was lowkey nuts.
Basically, it boiled down to two things: he was a hypochondriac, and he saw tons of women online who didn’t use one.
Neither sound like strong arguments for what Shay should do during her own birth, huh?
And Shay said she was afraid of everything about birth.
“I’m terrified of giving birth,” she said in the series.
She dedicated an episode to talking about the possibility of having a c-section, and how scared she was of that possibility, too.
She didn’t want to be bedridden from a c-section.
Because she had no plans of going on maternity leave after the baby’s birth.
She chose not to have one, as she said that the work she does, doesn’t really feel like work.
She eventually documented her labor.
A lot of the things Shay feared didn’t come to pass, like a c-section.
However, her labor took a whopping 33 hours . At one point, Matte commented that she hadn’t slept in 2 days.
Meet Atlas!
On October 20th, Shay announced the birth of her daughter on Instagram.
So yeah, Shay is a sharer.
Which is why it’s no surprise that she would arrange to do a photoshoot with Atlas!
She worked with Joyce Park, who previously shot her while she was still pregnant!
Shay did a photoshoot with Atlas Noa.
Yes, mama! She captioned it “Breast friends,” which is adorable.
People immediately flooded her comments. The first wave of comments were mostly praise and support, but it got ugly pretty fast.
This comment made me laugh so much.
Unlike future commenters, the only true criticism of this picture has to be this comment.
“Gorgeous but the no diaper anxiety is killing me rn I can’t look at this,” Italia Ricci wrote.
That is so hilariously fair.
This fan had a problem with the picture.
“I’m a fan of her, but this picture just says but it’s an attention getter. She’s not even looking at the baby, she’s not connected with the baby she’s connected with camera.”
Um…wtf?
Shay replied.
“I missed the part in the baby books that stated I had to maintain eye contact with my daughter while she feeds rather than capturing an amazing moment we were having.”
OOP!
“Pls let me know where I can download your parenting manual, I’ll get right on it!”
Okay, queen! Get it! Unfortunately, Shay has now been ushered into the sacred club celebrity moms know of all too well: mommy shaming.
Fans fell on both sides of the issue.
A flood of people hit her comments after Shay’s reply started to make news.
Some were in support of Shay, while others rolled in to shame her and back up what the first commenter, Shelly, said.
Shelly doubled down.
“This is an obvious photo op and you all don’t get that. I wasn’t judging her, just the people that thought it was a real photo. Not the kind with wind machines, fancy dresses and a photo crew.”
Wait…
Shay’s picture was staged?
I thought it was how she normally breastfed her baby. Do all moms not have perfect lighting, full makeup, and gorgeous dresses on to feed their kids? Is everything in life a lie?
She also changed her story a lot.
“Then don’t betray it as a wonderful mommy casually hot by the camera. To your point, it’s a photo shoot.!!,” she replied to someone.
Um…the caption “breast friends” doesn’t really communicate it being a “casual moment,” does it?
Y’all, this woman is OBSESSED with commenting on this picture.
It’s been a full week since it was first posted, and Shelly is still fighting people in the comments.
“Well I know a whole lot of mothers including myself they didn’t feel the need to breast-feed on a Christmas card or the public square[…]”
She also had a new argument.
“[…] Or with her hair and make up team making sure we look just right. There’s nothing special about this picture.”
First, the problem was people thinking it’s natural. Now, it’s that she posted it online.
So, there’s the actual crux of the issue.
Not that people thought the photo wasn’t staged, and not that Shay wasn’t “connecting” with the baby.
It was that she dared to post the picture at all. In the wise words of most people in the comments: If you don’t like it, keep scrolling .
Her comment rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
“I’m not a fan of your judgmental comment. And if she’s not looking at her baby does that mean the baby is neglected? NO! I don’t know why you even bother to comment on this if you’re going to insult her. You don’t know what happens when they’re alone. Back off.”
Smells like shame to me.
“The only amazing moment you’ve captured here is between you and the camera. There is absolutely nothing maternal about this shot..you’re airbrushed x 1000 and your baby looks like a prop.”
I wish people cared about real things as much as they do about Shay Mitchell’s boob.
Others made passionate pleas.
“This is inspiration, this is beautiful, this is letting all mothers know that it is natural and not to be ashamed,” one Instagram user wrote in Shay’s defense, praising her for being so open about breastfeeding.
People need to calm down.
There’s really nothing wrong with taking a picture with your own kid!
“If the trolls would get out behind the computer and actually take in lifes beautiful moments maybe they wouldnt be so narrow minded,” another person wrote.
She loved what Shay did.
“@shaymitchell you are gorgeous and this photo is amazing!! Thank you for sharing.”
Unfortunately, this message was immediately met with rebuttals, including someone commenting, “No, it’s horrible and shameless.”
There’s no winning.
People got in CRAZY arguments about it.
Some of them are legit too NSFW to share. The level of vitriol aimed not only at Shay, but at those who supported her or disagreed with her was high .
Other moms flooded her mentions.
Some had nothing but nice things to say, which was a nice balance to the insane amounts of criticism.
Soon-to-be mom Ashley Graham wrote, “Mommy Goals!” which was cute as hell.
Hilary Duff turned up.
“That exactly what I looked liiiike !!! ” Hilary Duff joked.
If anyone knows the glitz and glam of being a mom, it’s Hilary Duff. She recently posted a picture of her changing her baby’s diaper at a restaurant table!
Well, a point got made here.
“I’m a fan of her, but…” That’s not a fan boo, you’re a hater.
I mean…she’s not wrong. I obvs can’t speak for Shelly, but making the comment in the first place was rude.
You know what lesson I learned today?
The same lesson I learned when I was young, when I first started joined social media, and the lesson a ton of people learned when Chrissy Teigen started clapping back: never shame a mom.