We Heart: Badass Pregnant TV Reporter Standing Up to Body-Shamers

Canadian meteorologist Kristi Gordon of Global News in British Columbia is visibly pregnant and still working every day. When some news viewers took issue with her changing body and sent hurtful letters to the station criticizing her appearance, Gordon made a gutsy move and took to the air to speak out against bullying. On a special segment of the news show, she told viewers:

I feel like I’m a pretty confident person. … But I’m giving these people a little bit of satisfaction with what I’m going to say here. Last night I went to bed and thought about some of the things I did yesterday in the evening: I checked myself out in the mirror a couple of times, just to see how big I’m getting; I asked my husband, ‘Am I not seeing it? Am I getting really big?’ … It wasn’t until I went to bed that I realized [despite being a confident person] when you say something mean about someone, it still affects them.

The comments she had previously received ranged from “Looser tops would look more professional,” to simply “HUSSY!” which Gordon says she was able to shake off with relative ease.

But there was one note that stuck with her from some folks calling themselves “The Group.” Reading from the letter, Gordon said, “Nowhere on [North American] TV have we seen a weather reader so gross as you. Your front end looks like the Hindenburg and your rear end looks like a brick [expletive] house. We now turn off Global.” Watch more below:

We love that Gordon handled this situation so boldly—though truth be told we wouldn’t blame her if she’d been way angrier. Knowing that girls as young as 5 express feelings of body shame, perhaps Gordon’s heartfelt anti-bullying message will resonate with viewers and have an impact on the way all those watching describe women’s bodies.

As Gordon wrote in a follow-up post on the Global News website,

I am definitely not [covering up or taking time off work]. I love my job and I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can—and I’m not spending any more money on maternity clothes … especially muumuus.

Go, Kristi, go!

Screenshot taken from Global News newscast

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About

Stephanie hails from Toronto, Canada. She is a Ms. writer, a master of journalism candidate and a hip hop dancer/instructor/choreographer. She got her start in feminist journalism at the age of 16 when she was a member of the first editorial collective at Shameless magazine—and she has never looked back.