Sorry, Why Do People Think Lauren Goodger Has A Fake Baby Bump?

Less than 10 days after she announced her first pregnancy, Lauren Goodger is fighting off trolls who claim she’s using a fake baby bump.

And while you might not have thought them natural bedfellows previously, Lauren joins Meghan Markle, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams amongst other celebrities who have had to suffer ridiculous social media speculation about the shape, size and movement of their pregnant bellies.

Lauren confirmed she is having her first child with boyfriend Charles Drury on January 18 – she revealed she was three months pregnant and will welcome her first baby in July.

But this week,she told The Sun: ‘People have even accused me of having a fake bump. It’s totally crazy. It can be frustrating and annoying. But at the end of the day we are happy, we are having a baby, keep your opinions to yourselves and f*** off.

She added: ‘I’m constantly explaining myself when I shouldn’t have to. I’ve never been horrible to anyone, I’ve never hurt anyone. I’m not a bad person. I’m only human and I do have a lot coming at me. Eventually that stuff will break you down. That’s why I suffer from anxiety — I can’t take it from every angle.’

So why – when it’s really quite the pits even when it comes to the pits of social media – do people love speculating on whether celebrity’s baby bumps are real?

It’s important to say that,as Nell Frizzell pointed out in an earlier piece for Grazia, when it came to Meghan, Beyonce and Serena there was undoubtedly a horrible racist undertone to the claims.

But are there other reasons that people like Lauren, Kim Kardashian, Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman have also been accused of faking their baby bumps or using so-called moonbumps (silicone and foam fake baby bumps).

Perhaps we’ve become so used to stories of set-up relationships, publicity stunts and the cynical side of celeb that we find it hard to believe anything we hear, or even see with our own eyes sometimes? Perhaps it says something about the issues we still have around pregnant bodies and the belief that they should all look the same? That football-up-a-jumper style bump that few of us will ever experience. Perhaps trolls are just mean and know there’s not much worse they can attack a woman with.

Counselling Directory member Beverley Blackman https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/counsellors/beverley-blackman said it was telling that we only ever think to speculate about the pregnancy bumps of people we don’t know – and that some of it could be about comparison and jealousy: ‘This could be a lot about envy and subconscious comparison,’ she said. ‘Here are women in a position of power by virtue of their celebrity status. People envy her lifestyle, envy her looks, envy her body and her capacity to stay slim while pregnant. People envy her ability to look picture-perfect while they are on the sofa in pjs, beset with raging hormones and throwing up every hour. How do they make it all look so perfect when mere mortals cannot do that? What's so special about them? There is the sense that they can have it all (while others may not be able to have it all).’

She added: ‘Celebs have access, by virtue of their money, to a lot more in terms of fertility procedures and complementary treatments than most of us do. So there is the sense that money and privilege can buy you everything, including happiness in the form of a baby. Pregnancy and fertility usually arouse a tidal-wave of very complex feelings.’

But it’s also just about old-fashioned comparison, she says: ‘Some of it is people judging the celebrity by their own experiences. Like Lauren Goodger, some women have a very noticeable bump at around three months, whereas other women don't. People tend to judge others by their own experience. Some women prefer to be low-key with pregnancy; some women choose to enhance their bump in closer-fitting clothing: it is a choice, but not everyone agrees with choices made by others. When it’s a celeb, people tend to be more vocal about it. Celebs are people in the public eye, therefore they can be seen as one-dimensional. They do arouse a lot of feelings which people can then vent at them, but they [feel they] are not hurting the person in the public eye because they do not know them. So [they feel] it's safe to vent about Beyonce's pregnancy, rather than vent about a friend's.’

No matter what the motivation might be, can’t we agree, in this year of all years, to find something else to talk about?

READ MORE: Meghan Markle And The Moonbump: Why Are So Many People Convinced She's Faking Her Pregnancy?

READ MORE: Turns Out Hollywood Has Been Duping Us About What Real Pregnant Bellies Look Like Too