Anyone who exists in the public sphere will be, at some point, the focus of online vitriol. For Lainey Wilson, it came in the form of body shaming, which hurt her until she learned how to tune it out.
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Human beings are inherently cruel and jealous. Even before social media and online communities existed, many celebrities were driven to the point of breakdown by cruel, trashy journalism. They were hounded and abused until they snapped. Anything from a haircut to a pair of jeans would be enough for the hounds to get their teeth into and rip and tear until a celebrity was ruined.
Now, though, we have social media, and anyone with a keyboard can jump online a destroy a person's confidence. It takes training and determination to block it out and stay away from it. For Lainey Wilson, it was a learning curve after a particularly hurtful bout of social media body shaming.
Lainey Wilson Learning To Leave Social Media Alone
It was after Lainey Wilson had lost a lot of weight during touring that people started talking about her body. In particular, people were talking about her butt, which had shed a few pounds. Initially, she thought that the whole thing would blow over, but it didn't.
"At first I kind of thought it was funny, because I've been working on music my whole life, and all of a sudden I feel like I'm gaining a lot of fans," she said on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast. "I thought it was gonna be, like, a quick viral moment, but then it kept like going on and on and then on."
People kept commenting on her body, which was weird considering she is a musician, not a model. But Lainey Wilson found she couldn't stop reading the social media comments. "At the end of the day, I'm a storyteller. I think that words are powerful. Even if you don't believe it."
Eventually, though, she learned to rise above. Turning off social media and simply not looking takes away its power. Realising the people online aren't actually real reduces them to the bits and data they are. Lainey Wilson states that she found her self-worth within herself and in the eyes of her god.
