Miss SA Sasha-Lee Olivier slams 'disappointing' body shaming article
Not pregnant! Sasha-Lee Olivier shares an inspiring message for curvy women after a social media picture led to pregnancy speculation.
Reigning Miss South Africa Sasha-Lee Laurel Olivier has an important PSA about body-shaming to share with her followers.
The beauty queen took to Instagram to slam an article that questioned whether she was pregnant or not, based on a picture of her sitting at a bar on Instagram.
Sasha-Lee was wearing a yellow dress in the image. The headline read: "Is she or not?"
"If it’s true that there is a bun in the oven, it would be the first big scandal to hit South Africa’s most popular pageant," one line in the article reads.
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Sasha-Lee is NOT pregnant and she is disappointed that the article was printed, as it sends the wrong message to women with fuller figures.
"I know I am not pregnant. I know I don't have a bun in the oven. It's Burger King, it's Andiccio's. I have said this so many times... You guys know how many times I eat pizza... I am comfortable in my skin... I'm more worried that someone sees that article, does have a more voluptuous, and now decides that they don't belong in this space, " she said in her Instagram video.
Sasha-Lee added that it is not about weight, but women who are made to feel insecure about their bodies.
"No-one has a right to tell you what beauty is. You don't have to fit the preassumed template of beauty that society has created. You just have to be yourself."
Sasha-Lee was considered plus-size when she entered the Miss South Africa pageant in 2019. She referred to herself as "my size" and not plus size.
She placed first runner-up in the pageant but took over the Miss SA title in December after Zozibini Tunzi won the Miss Universe crown.
"... beauty never was and never will be a body shape, but rather what you put out into the world,” she wrote on Instagram in August last year.
The Johannesburg beauty said instead of writing an article speculating about her alleged pregnancy, the media should focus on issues like femicide in South Africa and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"How do you focus on the fact that I don't have abs when I sit... why don't you focus on my campaign, why don't you focus on hashtag, 'It's Not Your Fault' and help me raise the money for my rape comfort pack? Because that is what I am about. I am not about my abs."
Watch Sasha-Lee's video below.
Miss South Africa officials have indicated that they will be taking legal action against the publication that printed the "appalling" story.
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