Advertisement
23-year-old Siera Bearchall, also known as Miss Canada, has recently been receiving a lot of questions about her body. “What happened to you? Why have you gained weight? You are losing points,” she recalls on one of her recent Instagram posts.
Though Bearchall doesn’t even have to reply to these rude questions, she does. Her answer is incredible.
The young woman begins by agreeing that her body has changed from since she was 16, 20, or even 22. Her body is always changing, as she is constantly growing and changing through life – but she’s done with trying to make her body type fit a certain ideal held by society.
For years, she tried to make herself lose weight until she looked as skinny as all the other models and beauty queens she would see in magazines and on TV. She used to work out several hours a day, but only eat a protein bar and go to bed hungry, in hopes of making herself lose weight.
It took her so, so long to finally accept her body as it was.
“My body is not naturally lean and that's okay. I am healthy. I am fit. I am confident. I am me. This is who I am right now and I'm okay with it, so you should be too,” she wrote on one of her Instagram posts.
It’s clear that Bearchall’s natural body shape is what these online body-shamers are noticing, but she’s done dealing with their unnecessary hate.
“I am secure and that's what makes me beautiful. When you call me lazy, fat, and mediocre, what are you saying to the women of the world?” she wrote.
“Miss Universe is an organization built on the foundation of inclusion and diversity. It is no longer the "beauty pageant" it used to be. The mission of Miss Universe is to provide the tools for women to reach their personal best and use those skills to serve others,” she finished.
Whether or not Bearchall wins this Sunday, it’s clear that she fully embodies the ideal of what our Miss Universe 2017 should stand for.
