Jools Oliver Claps Back at a Postbaby-Body (and Pants!) Shamer

Jools Oliver, U.K.-based mommy blogger and wife of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, was expressing gratitude to the designers who gave her a pair of cute striped pants when she posted an Instagram shot of herself sporting the pants just one month after giving birth to the couple’s fifth child. Acknowledging that she still has some baby weight she wants to shed, she captioned the photo, “Thank you to the fab girls @aceandjig finally ‘almost’ fitting into these gorgeous trousers so comfy post little baby and beyond @nadianarain think we have finally found our perfect trousers.”

Harmless enough, right? Wrong, according to a commenter who shamed the new mom for reasons ranging from boasting her relatively thin postbaby figure to apparently neglecting her newborn, a boy named River Rocket, by focusing too much on her figure.

The commenter, @yasmin_agg, took the pic very personally and came down hard on Oliver, writing, “Just saw a newspaper article about this photo and thought I’d come on here to comment (I don’t usually comment on such things!) I am currently pregnant with my 2nd baby. And every minute of every day Im scrutinising my weight etc…pictures like this by naturally slim women DO NOT help! Shouldn’t you be more concerned about bonding with your child rather than how quickly you fit back into your jeans? How is this supposed to help other women in the same situation who doesn’t snap back so quickly?”

Oliver was also quick to come to her own defense. The mother of five responded directly to her critic, commenting, “@yasmin_agg honestly it’s about the trousers!!! I didn’t even think about the weight!!! For god sake I still have heaps to lose as I said earlier my teashirt [sic] hides a lot!! It was mearly [sic] a shout out to the lovely girls who sent me the trousers nothing more I hardly EVER put pictures up of myself and certainly not a ‘selfie’ I am confident with my body before during and after pregnancy and totally get that things don’t go back to normal for at least 6 months to a year! If at all and after 5 babies I should know. The waist of the trousers is elasticated!!!!! So prob would have fitted when I was 9 months pregs! As for bonding with my baby… I feel no need to address this it’s ridiculous. So please next time if I irritate you just unfollow me it was just meant to be a nice pic of a pair of good trews but has to turn in to a weight issue seems a bit weird to me and a totally shame!”

The friend Oliver tagged in her post, @nadianarain, chimed in to defend her chum, writing, “Everyone needs to calm down. I was holding the baby because I was visiting and the trousers looked bloody great and I took the picture of Jools in them because she looked great in them and we were celebrating our friends @aceandjigg with their great design. Jools should not have to hide the fact that she is a beautiful woman and looks radiant after her birth. … She is the last woman to make other pregnant or postbaby women feel uncomfortable or that they should conform to any kind of model weight. In fact weight wasn’t even mentioned. Let alone being told she should be bonding? That’s just hurtful to say to a mother of a new born. We were talking about elasticated waisted trousers and how great they are.”

Fans were also rising up to defend Oliver’s decision to pot the photo. “Some women ‘snap’ back into shape, it happens…because we weren’t all designed to be the same way,” one user commented regarding the body-shaming. Another wrote, “@yasmin_agg I cannot believe what I’m reading….a) you’re pregnant, that’s not really a time for “scrutinising” your weight AND judging other women as you’re doing here and b)@joolsoliver is clearly such a supporter of other women that your comment is uncalled for & rude.”

“I am feeling a tremendous urge to go out and buy a load of elasticated trousers (post 2.5yrs after baby 3),” another user wrote, with emojis, to lighten the mood.

One of Jools Oliver’s biggest fans, her mother-in-law, Sally Oliver, defended her on Instagram too, writing, “I was so incensed to read such puerile rubbish written by that dreadful woman about my lovely daughter-in-law, and to infer that she is not bonding with her new baby is beyond arrogant. She is the most wonderful mother.”

Though every pregnant woman is different, according to the CDC, it is considered normal and healthy for a woman to gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. According the Medicine Plus, a division of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Most women lose half of their baby weight by 6 weeks after childbirth (postpartum). The rest usually comes off over the next several months.” With Oliver being clearly naturally slim, it isn’t odd that she’d look slim just four weeks out — especially in loose clothing.

Medical statistics aside, it’s Oliver’s body. It’s her Instagram. And for the love of fashion, they’re her trousers, and she can flaunt them if she wants to.

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