Paige Spiranac won’t tolerate being body-shamed.
The golf influencer, 29, took to her YouTube channel recently to address being “extremely body shamed” on social media after she threw the first pitch at the Yankees-Brewers game in Milwaukee on Sept. 16, the NY Post reports.
“Not just body [shamed], but my appearance too, like my face and everything,” Spiranac said in a YouTube video titled “Body Shaming & Life Online, Do I Deserve It?”
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Spiranac wore a tied-up white tank with a Brewers jersey and jeans at American Family Field, where she threw a pitch to Christian Yelich. The 2022 Maxim Hot 100 cover star sported Yelich’s No. 22 on the back of her jersey.
“In Milwaukee people were like, ‘she’s gained weight, this is what she looks like with no filters.’ It was insane,” Spiranac said. “People were like, ‘you don’t look like yourself’ But, here’s the thing. When I shoot, I obviously pick the best pictures. I have great lighting. There’s a lot that goes into getting a nice picture.
“And so when you’re at a stadium that has severe overhead lighting, fluorescent overhead lighting, you’re just not going to look your best. And so I have just felt this immense pressure to look perfect, all the time. And that is humanly impossible. It is seriously so difficult to do that. No one can do that. Even the most beautiful women in the world don’t always look a certain way.”
Spiranac said she thinks the increased attention she’s received is a result of her being named Maxim’s Sexiest Woman Alive.
“That is quite a title and I’ve felt a lot of pressure to live up to that title. So I even think that I have been more critical of my self appearance and alway trying to put out the best possible picture and doing everything I can to always present and look my best,” Spiranac said. “And that takes a toll on you.”
Last month, Spiranac took to her Instagram story to share that many of her male followers called her “fat” in the comments of a post that featured her posing on a golf course in a pink short onesie.
“Honestly, the amount of men calling me ‘fat’ on this post is next level lol,” Spiranac wrote on her Instagram story at the time. “I’ve had to delete so many comments which I almost never do.
“I know my body is a big part of my brand and that comes with a territory, but it’s hard to maintain my ideal weight all the time for year after year. I have to work very hard in the gym and with diet. It doesn’t come naturally to me. It can be defeating when people call out my body insecurities.
“Would love to start sharing more of my fitness plan and what I eat with you all because I’m sure a lot of you feel a similar body pressure. I used to work out to look good, but now I’m trying to work out to feel food. Changing my mentality around working out to make it a more positive experience.”
In January 2021, Spiranac addressed comments about her body on Twitter.
“It’s crazy I can be told I look too fat, too skinny, too plastic, too old, wearing too much makeup, not enough makeup, boobs too big, butt not big enough, too pale, hair too blonde, not blonde enough all in one day,” Spiranac tweeted at the time. “Guys it’s not a Build-a-Bear workshop over here. Calm it down.”
This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.