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Health

14th Mar 2017

Female bodybuilder receives major backlash after body shaming woman at the gym

Absolutely no need for this!

Cathy Donohue

This is likely to make you very angry.

London-based bodybuilder Diana Andrews has been heavily criticised after she body shamed another woman at the gym and shared the video on her Instagram story.

The story has been widely publicised after Diana shared an image of a woman on a treadmill with the caption “love handles”.

She then shared a second image with the words “I bet she’s ordering burgers for delivery”.

Unsurprisingly, she has received a huge amount of negative backlash and has since changed her Instagram to private.

Diana later apologised and said she “deeply regrets” sharing the video in a post shared on her Facebook page, which now appears to have been deleted.

An excerpt from her post reads:

 “I saw this girl walking on the treadmill talking on her phone and I made a video and added a comment that she’s probably ordering take away.

“The whole point of this video was that she’s using her phone while on the treadmill. The whole story was turned upside down by taking a screenshot and adding comments that I’m body shaming this woman. I would never do this, it’s not who I am”.

Emily Gilmour of The Recovery Clinic, which helps treat people with eating disorders gave her opinions on the post in conversation with The Huffington Post.

“It’s likely that the woman posting these pictures was being rewarded by her audience”.

“This is a really tragic example of a how society has conditioned women to judge and compare one another. We’re living in an era where it’s normal to tell women that they’re inadequate, and that they must apologise for how they look.

“The solidarity between women is breaking down, when really, we should be supporting one another no matter the shape, size or weight”.

According to The Daily Mail, Diana has previously taken part in competitions organised by the United Kingdom Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (UKBFF) but at the moment she is not a “paid-up member”.

A spokesperson said:

“We are totally against this sort of thing. We have already told her off and she has apologised. It is not very nice”.