Mum's Beautiful 'Flabby' Bikini Photo Will Make You Want To Show Some Skin | HuffPost Life

This Mum's Bikini Photo Will Make You Want To Show Some Skin

Ellen Wallwork— The Huffington Post UK

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A photo of a mum-of-three in her bikini has gone viral for all the right reasons.

Rachel Hollis, 32, shared the image on Facebook and Instagram with an inspiring caption.

"I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that's permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy... (which is something I didn't even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini," she wrote.

"I wear a bikini because I'm proud of this body and every mark on it.

"Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could.

"I wear a bikini because the only man who's opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he's never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren't scars ladies, they're stripes and you've earned them. Flaunt that body with pride! #HollisHoliday"

Hollis, whose children are aged eight, six and two, was on holiday in Cancun when she asked her husband to take a photo of her on the beach.

She noticed that the picture showed her stretch marks, but rather than feeling embarrassed, Hollis felt proud of her body, and she decided to share it with readers of the American lifestyle website she runs, The Chic Site.

"When I looked at the photo I noticed the stretch marks. I could have zoomed in so you wouldn’t notice them but I realised I'd never seen a woman show a bikini shot on social media where she showed them off," Hollis tells HuffPost UK Lifestyle.

"I left the picture as-is and then wrote the description to go along with it figuring that a few of my mum friends would like it. I had no idea what was going to happen!"

Within minutes the post had been over 100 likes on Facebook and five days later it has been liked more than 370,000 times.

"Honestly, it's a little overwhelming," adds Hollis. "Because so many people are writing in, (we’re just under 12,000 comments on that photo) and I want to respond to them all, but I just can’t keep up."

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Hollis also said the experience taught her a valuable lesson about the kind of honesty that appeals to women.

"Women want real," she explained to HuffPost Parents. "They want to see things that are aspirational but it needs to be tempered by the truth. It’s fine to show lives on social media with blown out hair and cute outfits but we need to be honest about the hard stuff as well. The truth makes us feel like we're not alone… the truth makes us think 'Me Too! I feel that way too!'"

Hollis added that she hopes her photo post helps people 'feel inspired and encouraged to be proud of their bodies no matter what they look like,' and so far it seems to be having the desired effect.

One Facebook commenter wrote: "You have no idea of how empowering your words are to someone as myself. I gave birth to my last baby (my third son) six months ago. I have many stretch marks and my confidence has plummeted. Reading this has made me realise how I'm seeing everything in the wrong way. Thank you! I believe you've given me a certain boost I needed to help begin the process of regaining my self confidence."

And the picture also moved some dads to comment: "My wife's stretch marks remind me of the days when she was pregnant with our first child. Both young, not really knowing what we were doing and truly excited (and scared) of being parents. I know it bothers her sometimes but I really try to let her know it's not something to be embarrassed about. Love the kids and love her no matter what."

Hollis admits she has been moved by the sheer volume of comments her photo has received.

"The stories are beautiful and sad and courageous and brave," she says. "There are stories about women who have scars from stomach cancer and men who have scars from serving in the military.

"What a gorgeous history those marks paint on our bodies, what an incredible piece of art to show off to the world!"

Hollis isn't the first mum to make a stand for stretch mark appreciation.

Last year, two American mums, who chose to remain anonymous, set up the Love Your Lines Instagram account to celebrate images that show stretch marks in the most beautiful way.

Speaking to HuffPost, one of the creators said: "I found it interesting that all types of women have stretch marks because I've had them on my thighs since I was a teenager.

"So even though I'm a mum (which gave me a few more) I've been coming to terms with my marks for a long time now."

That same year, mum-of-five, Tanis Jex-Blak, 33 from Canada, penned the most amazing response to people who criticised her for wearing a bikini that showed her stretch marks.

Jex-Blak shared her response on Facebook - a brave move that gained her the support of thousands. The letter Jex-Blak posted online read:

"I'm sorry if my first attempt at sun tanning in a bikini in public in 13 years "grossed you out". I'm sorry that my stomach isn't flat and tight. I'm sorry that my belly is covered in stretch marks.

"I'm NOT sorry that my body has housed, grown, protected, birthed and nurtured FIVE fabulous, healthy, intelligent and wonderful human beings. I'm sorry if my 33 year old, 125 lb body offended you so much that you felt that pointing, laughing, and pretending to kick me. But I'll have you know that as I looked at your 'perfect' young bodies, I could only think to myself 'what great and amazing feat has YOUR body done?'."

Body Image Heroes

Jennie Runk(01 of21)

Runk is the star of a May 2013 H&M swimwear campaign that gained widespread media attention for not relegating the gorgeous size 12 model to the "plus-size" pages of their website. In an interview with activist group SPARK, Runk told a young blogger: "I remember often feeling like I should be unhappy with my body, but it was confusing, because I never thought there was anything wrong with it until people started talking about it."In a piece for the BBC, Runk wrote of her newfound media attention: "This is exactly the kind of thing I've always wanted to accomplish, showing women that it's OK to be confident even if you're not the popular notion of 'perfect.'... There's no need to glamorise one body type and slam another." (credit:H&M)

Jennifer Lawrence(02 of21)

The famously outspoken "Hunger Games" star has been extremely vocal about resisting diet culture and pressure to be unnaturally thin. "If anybody even tries to whisper the word 'diet,' I'm like, 'You can go f*ck yourself,'" Lawrence said in an interview for the November 2013 UK issue of Harper's Bazaar. She also hit the nail on the head during a Nov. 7 Q&A with Yahoo! employees. "The world has this idea that if you don't look like an airbrushed perfect model," she said to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. "You have to see past it. You look how you look, you have to be comfortable. What are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That's just dumb." (credit:Getty)

Nickolay Lamm(03 of21)

Lamm, an artist who works for MyDeals.com, used CDC measurements of an average 19-year-old woman to create a 3-D model which he then Photoshopped to look like a Barbie doll. His images of "normal" Barbie next to the doll sold in stores is truly worrying."If we criticize skinny models, we should at least be open to the possibility that Barbie may negatively influence young girls as well," Lamm told the Huffington Post in an email. "Furthermore, a realistically proportioned Barbie actually looks pretty good."It's awesome to see a man take a stance on these issues, especially considering that many men experience their own body struggles -- often in silence. (credit:Nickolay Lamm)

Trina Hall(04 of21)

Hall, a Dallas-based yoga instructor, abandoned all dietary restrictions between March and July of this year in order to see how her body changed when she wasn't actively limiting her eating habits -- and how people in her life reacted to her changing shape. The results of her project were not what she expected:

The people who didn't know, who were just with me in my life -- there was no difference that I could tell in the way that they treated me. The difference came in my own perceptions of myself, and I began to treat myself differently. I was very judgmental, and I would look in the mirror and critique myself... I would pick apart my body. Instead of looking at the whole of my body, I would look at different parts and analyze what's wrong with them.

"My most shocking discovery through the process is that I’m afraid of not being loved," Hall wrote in a Jul. 30 blog post. "I noticed the self-talk was that my beauty is only on the surface."The experience moved Hall to better understand the dialogue happening inside her own head, and inspired her to help other people suffering from poor body image. "I want to empower people to love their bodies... if it's going to start somewhere, it has to start within," she wrote. (credit:Trina Hall)

Shailene Woodley(05 of21)

Woodley, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in "The Descendants," told Flavorwire in July:

I saw somebody -- what I thought was me -- in a magazine once, and I had big red lips that definitely did not belong on my face. I had boobs about three times the size they are in real life. My stomach was completely flat. My skin was also flawless. But the reality is that I do not have those lips and my skin is not flawless and I do have a little bit of a stomach. It was not a proper representation of who I am. I realized that, growing up and looking at magazines, I was comparing myself to images like that -- and most of it isn’t real.

Because of her discomfort with how women are constantly Photoshopped and edited on-screen, Woodley doesn't wear makeup to events. What a badass. (credit:AP)

Elena Raouna (06 of21)

Raouna, who was crowned Miss British Beauty Curve 2013, told the Daily Mail: "you don't have to be size zero to be a model, and you can be pretty and plus size at the same time." The beauty queen hopes to use her platform to inspire young women to be comfortable in their own bodies, regardless of their weight. "My confidence has grown over the years and hopefully I can inspire other plus-size girls to be confident in their own skin," she said. (credit:Elena Raouna )

Kelsey Miller(07 of21)

The Refinery29 staff writer turned to intuitive eating, a practice where you learn to listen to your body's signals and eat accordingly, to help manage her body demons -- and is chronicling her journey on the Internet via the Anti-Diet Project. "The goal here is not fast weight loss," Miller told the Huffington Post in an email. "It's about creating a healthy, neutralized relationship with food and learning how to be fit and active every day -- but still have a life." (credit:Rockie Nolan)

Sheila Pree bright(08 of21)

Pree Bright's photo series "Plastic Bodies" examines how beauty ideals affect women, especially women of color. Her striking images combine doll parts with segments of human bodies, and the discord between the two is startling. She told HuffPost in an email:

American concepts of the “perfect female body” are clearly exemplified through commercialism, portraying “image as everything” and introducing trends that many spend hundreds of dollars to imitate. It is more common than ever that women are enlarging breasts with silicone, making short hair longer with synthetic hair weaves, covering natural nails with acrylic fill-ins, or perhaps replacing natural eyes with contacts.Even on magazine covers, graphic artists are airbrushing and manipulating photographs in software programs, making the image of a small waist and clear skin flawless. As a result, the female body becomes a replica of a doll, and the essence of natural beauty in popular American culture is replaced by fantasy.

(credit:Sheila Pree Bright)

Adele(09 of21)

Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself." (credit:Getty)

Rebel Wilson(10 of21)

The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people." (credit:Facebook)

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