Candice Swanepoel doesn’t care what anyone thinks of how she looks in a bikini, even if it has only been a couple of weeks since the Victoria’s Secret model gave birth.
Just a day after pictures emerged showing of Candace sporting a bikini on the beach, online trolls decided to mock her still very tiny figure. The model took to Instagram to call out those who had cruel comments for her physique.
“This is me 12 days after having my son. If you have something bad to say about it … Check yourself,” Candice wrote on her Instagram story.
“Society can be so cruel to one another. Beauty standards are sometimes impossible for women these days. I am not ashamed to show my post-partum tummy, I am proud actually,” she continued. “I carried my son for nine months in there, I think I’ve earned the right to have a little tummy.”
Swanepoel added that she shouldn’t have to “hide my stomach” just because of someone else’s “unrealistic standards of women.”
The bikini pictures originally appeared in the Daily Mail , which had plenty of praise for her “fantastic” figure mere weeks after giving birth to her second child. It was this picture that drew the backlash (even though the majority of commenters agreed that she did look fantastic), and which she then re-shared in her Instagram story to say she wouldn’t be shamed for her body.
Candice Swanepoel is back in a bikini after giving birth to her second child on June 19. She looked fantastic as she modeled an off-the-shoulder bikini top with tie detail and some red polka-dot briefs. https://t.co/ta72VjTVlQ pic.twitter.com/5fiQ4e3y8k
— ShowBizLondon celebs (@showbizlondon) July 11, 2018
The defense of her body also won Candice plenty of praise, with some seeing it as her sticking up for all women.
Becoming a mother has done a lot to change Candice Swanepoel’s perspective on life. In an interview with British Vogue , last year after giving birth to son Anaca, the model said she sees the world differently, with everything now being seen through the lens of motherhood.
“I can’t watch movies, or even commercials, where kids are in any kind of danger now,” she says. “The last two movies I watched were Lion and Mama , with Penelope Cruz, and I mean, just bawling on the couch. Oh my god, they are both so beautiful but you just won’t get through it.”
No stranger to the camera, Candice Swanepoel has also shared her motherhood journey with followers on social media, posting pictures often of her adventures with her son and her second pregnancy.
She didn’t shy away from wearing a bikini during her pregnancy, either, posting pictures near the ninth month showing off her baby bump.
One thing is clear — Candice Swanepoel is never going to stop wearing a bikini, no matter what her body shaming critics might say.