Pregnant Iskra Lawrence says farewell to 'old body', hits back at shamers

Iskra Lawrence has shared an empowering message about her changing body shape during pregnancy.

The British model, 29, is currently eight months pregnant with her first child and while she’s admitted to struggling with her body image during pregnancy, she’s also learnt to love her changing shape.

Sharing some pictures to her Instagram from between 2015-16, the body positive advocate described how she’s recognised that her body may never be the same.

“Bye old body (pics from 2015-2016 when I worked out 4times a week) it’s been fun, thank you, I love you,” she started her message.

“Buttttt my new ever changing body I love you too and you will continue to be stronger and more magical than ever,” she added.

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Lawrence went on to add that she’s been on the receiving end of body shaming since announcing her pregnancy, and that it was men dishing out the unwanted opinions.

Listing some of the insults she’d received from “your body will no longer be beautiful” to “you’re getting so fat”, the model explained that she hasn’t let the shaming get to her.

“No amount of hateful words could take away from how beautiful this journey is and how much I value my body,” she continued.

And even if her body does change post pregnancy, she’s going to be there for it.

“I’m ready to meet my post baby body, get to know her and fall in love, even if I don’t recognise her or how she feels,” Lawrence added.

Read more: How your skin changes during pregnancy

The body positivity didn’t end there either as the mum-to-be had some words of encouragement for those concerned about how pregnancy could impact their own bodies.

“For anyone living in fear of pregnancy because of body shamers/weight gain or triggering your eating disorder or body dysmorphia...you’ve got this,” she wrote.

“You will never feel more in love with your body because it’s creating life’s most precious gift and for those who are experiencing infertility your body is beautiful and worthy of your love too.”

Since sharing her post, the model mum-to-be has been praised by fans for opening up about her changing body and how she’s learning to embrace it.

“I reflect back on pre baby body pictures, and think about how I was a size 6; now size 14,” one fan shared.

“My hips grew with age, and couldn’t handle it. Now I’m 8 months 2weeks and ready to show off the mum bod because I was blessed to have this!!!!”

“Children are much more important than a body or anybody’s opinion about your body,” another wrote.

“Louder for the folks at the back,” one fan simply stated.

Others thanked the model for her honesty, claiming it was helping them to deal with their own body issues.

“The body dysmorphia from pregnancy is killing me. Needed this!” one user wrote.

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Last month, Lawrence opened up about the struggles she’d experienced with her body image since becoming pregnant.

The model has previously suffered from body dysmorphia and an eating disorder and in a video shared to Instagram she addresses these struggles in the video, together with the difficulties she has faced during her pregnancy journey.

Lawrence explained that she has embraced the “changes” in her body, which have included acne on her chest and stretch marks around her stomach, and treated it as a “positive challenge” to continue to “love [herself]” throughout the journey.

Lawrence isn’t the first body-positive figure to get real about her changing pregnancy body.

Ashley Graham, 32, who recently gave birth to her first baby, a son, shared nude images of herself throughout her pregnancy.