THIS Morning star Ashley James bluntly hit back against haters online who have said she’s showing “too much cleavage”.
Ashley shared photos from her outfit at the Pride of Britain Awards – but many followers only had unkind things to say.
“Um not good on the boobs,” commented one Instagram user.
“And you wonder why men look at your chest… That’s why right there,” said one user on a photo of Ashley in a strapless silver dress.
More comments were to follow in a similar vein on the carousel of images where Ashley is stunning in the silver number.
“Love the red hair Ashley. As for the dress I don’t think it does you justice. Too much cleavage. Less is more,” said one user.
Others remarked on how the dress looked ill-fitting around her chest and “uncomfortable” rather than flattering.
But Ashley defended her natural body as she shared screenshots of the hate comments.
Ashley also added the words: “God forbid a woman has boobs and wears a dress” onto the primary pic.
“Any need for all that chest to be on show? Stay classy,” reads one of the screenshotted hate comments.
Other users directly attacked the shape of her boobs, disliking her figure.
In a lengthy caption underneath the hit-back, Ashley penned back a strong response about body shaming.
“On Monday night I went to the Pride of Britain Awards and honestly, I felt amazing in my dress,” she began.
“But as soon as I posted photos, the body-shaming comments rolled in, and, heartbreakingly, most of them came from other women.
“I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the same commentary I’ve been hearing since I was fourteen: that my body is shameful, that I should cover up, that if men look, it’s somehow my fault.
“I wasn’t even spared from it when I was breastfeeding my children.”
Ashley then went on to note the double standard of how men don’t have to face this, and as a larger-chested woman all she’s doing is merely trying to exist.
“Men can walk down the street topless because it’s hot, go for a run shirtless, even take part in charity calendars naked, and no one questions their morals or “modesty.”
“Yet women can’t even breastfeed a baby in public without it being debated. We’re shamed if we show skin and shamed if we don’t.
“Modesty and purity have always been tools to control and silence women, to make us small, obedient, and apologetic for existing in the bodies we were born with.
“Well, I won’t cover up to make anyone else comfortable.
“I’m not flaunting my body. It’s simply my body. Existing in it isn’t an invitation, a performance, or a statement. It’s just me.
“And to the women leaving those comments: please stop doing the patriarchy’s job for it. Policing other women’s bodies doesn’t make you virtuous; it keeps us all trapped in the same double standards.
“If you have a problem with my body, that problem is yours, not mine.
“And I’ll be damned if my daughter grows up being told her body is something to hide or be ashamed of.”
Fans of the star flooded into the comments section of Ashley’s clapback post with messages of support, standing by her among the hate.
“Where are you meant to put them?,” joked one user. “Well done for calling people out. You look amazing.”
Others agreed, saying she “looked stunning” and that she’s doing an amazing job at hitting back against “internalised misogyny”.
Ashley has natural 30GG boobs which she claims have wrecked her life since she was a teen.
She described in an exclusive interview with The Sun how she once got a detention at school for hugging her own brother because staff deemed it as inappropriate.
“I got detention for hugging my brother because they [school staff] were like ‘Well, will people in town know it’s your brother? What are they going to think?,” said Ashley.
“I think it started when I was 14. I was the first intake of girls, 37 of us versus 500 boys. And it was also the year that I got boobs and I was suddenly a 30GG, but I was also a child in every sense. I wasn’t sexual.
“There was like whispers that people fancy me. It was just really gross, sexualised – I remember boys would run up to me being like ‘Are you shaven?’ It was just really sexual and graphic.
“Adults, including teachers, would almost treat me like I was this kind of sex-mad person.”
But Ashley also noted how dressing purposefully more covered up drew in negative attention as well.
“At school when I tried to kind of dress in a way that I wouldn’t have attention on me, I remember being called prudish.”
Nowadays she’s promoting body positivity, and has touched upon her journey to loving her figure in her book, Bimbo.
