Updated May 19, 2020.
Charli D’Amelio is TikTok’s latest star to speak out against body shamers.
The 16-year-old took to Twitter earlier this week to clap back at those commenting online about her weight.
“STOP TALKING ABOUT MY BODY!,” she began. “It’s not your place to tell me if I’m losing weight or gaining weight.”
Charli’s tweets are in response to a growing number of viral TikTok videos posted lately criticising the weight of the platforms’ most popular female creators. While these videos may not necessarily qualify as a “trend,” content with this subject matter has spiked during the coronavirus quarantine.
Addison Rae, another massive TikTok star and friend to Charli, also spoke out against body-shamers this month. The 19-year-old said she had seen multiple videos calling her “a whale” and saying she had gained weight since the coronavirus lockdown. Despite the negativity, Addison tweeted that those comments are motivating her to become the healthiest version of herself.
Charli went on to say doesn’t understand why everyone can’t lift each other up instead of tearing each other down and asked fans to please stop commenting about her body and her friends’ bodies.
As the most-followed person on TikTok, Charli shot to fame quickly. The teenager gained over 50 million followers in her first 9 months on the platform and has since been featured in a Superbowl commercial, performed at an NBA game, and danced with J. Lo.
Casual.
However, fame hasn’t always been positive for the TikTok queen. In a collab video with James Charles earlier this year, Charli opened up about how difficult her rise to fame has been, saying the hardest part is when fans don’t respect her boundaries in public.
The viral star also appeared on Jimmy Fallon in early March, sharing that her TikTok fame has come with “a lot” of hate and cyberbullying.
On May 18th, the 16-year-old doubled down on her stance against body shamers. In a TikTok shared to her 56+ million followers, Charli lip-synced “I’m just a kid” over and over as screenshots of comments about her body popped up on screen. She ended the video by sharing multiple photos of herself in tears on different occasions, presumably all in response to the negativity she faces online.
Charli has mentioned multiple times that she accidentally fell into viral stardom and her newfound fame seems to be taking a serious toll on the teen.
We sincerely hope that anyone who body-shames a teenager realises how inappropriate that is and finds a new hobby to occupy their quarantine.