Ashley James: 'I've been body-shamed for my boobs since age 13'
In the latest episode of My Body My Story, Ashley James shares some very emotional insights in to how she has struggled with body image for most of her life.
The broadcaster, who is expecting her second child, told Women’s Health that she has always had large breasts, and can remember specific moments from her youth where she was shamed or sexualised – a hurtful pattern that continued in to her twenties, and now in to motherhood.
She said: ‘I've always had such big boobs, since I was 13. I wore a 30GG. So with that has come lots of unwanted attention and hyper sexualisation.
‘And then the comments kind of came from boys at school, especially older ones, it would always be like, really sexual and perverse comments about my body, if I was having sex and stuff like that. I was literally 13. And so that was quite like a sharp awakening.
‘I think as a consequence of that the teachers started to really, how would I say, I guess shame me or try, I guess they were trying to protect me. But they did it in a way that taught me that my body was something to be ashamed of. So when I'd get ready to go to the disco, or whatever it might be, they'd say no, actually, you can't wear that you have to cover up, put something on more appropriate. You don't want to distract the boys, you don't want to distract the teachers.’
In the full interview, which you can watch in the player above, Ashley reflects on how her boobs have continued to bring unwanted attention, including when she breastfed her son, Alf – and that it’s likely she will face similar scrutiny when his sibling arrives.
She added: I was actually quite shocked that when I was breastfeeding, my own personal relationship to my boobs were like, wow, I'm doing this really heavenly, earthy thing. And it felt like reclaiming my own body from sexualisation.
"But then the attitudes online and especially when I went on to TV, and I ended up having to breastfeed, it wasn't planned, my child was hungry. And at the time, he didn't take a bottle of anything else, so for me to work, I had to bring him along.
‘There were all these comments about me being an attention seeker, and how I was doing it for attention. And I remember thinking like, "how is feeding a baby, an attention seeking thing?"
‘I was really happy when I finished breastfeeding, and they kind of deflated and I felt like I could wear all the tops that I never got to wear. So now that they are like filling up again, I'm noticing that I'm struggling with how big they are getting. And I know they're gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger, until they deflate again, hopefully.
‘So that would be the area that I'm currently trying to be kind to myself about.’
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