If you happened to be gazing at Mille Mackintosh’s dreamy holiday pictures on Instagram this weekend (she’s in Santorini with her husband Hugo and three-month old daughter Sienna on their first family holiday away together) you might have noticed a) how cute her baby daughter is and b) how stunning Mille looks and c) what an excellent selection of plunge-front swimsuits she packed for the trip.
She also shared an Insta story of herself - still looking stunning - in which she notes the cellulite on her thighs - ‘wasn’t going to post this because you can see the cellulite on my thighs, but who cares?’ The cellulite in question is, to be fair, barely visible but it’s weird how, on a platform where we’re so used to seeing perfect hot dog legs and smooth thighs, that visible cellulite is a rarity - even when it’s coming from a woman who gave birth literally three months ago.
It’s a jarring contrast to so much of the conversation we have about body positivity (and made all the more so when other celebrities, like Molly-Mae Hague are trolled cruelly for posting pictures that don’t conform to the super-skinny norm we expect from our reality TV stars). We can talk about women (it’s always women) ‘embracing their curves’ (vom) and ‘flaunting their imperfections’ (although what on Earth’s imperfect about a body that’s literally created an entire other human being?) but if every picture we see on our Insta feed is filtered, cropped and posed to perfection, how are we ever supposed to believe it?
Mackintosh has written for Grazia about her struggles with her body image post pregnancy. ’When I was pregnant so many people told me I would ‘bounce back in no time’,’ she wrote.
READ MORE: Mille Mackintosh: 'I've Struggled With My Body Image Post-Pregnancy'
‘They were well-intentioned, meant to make me feel better about the extra weight I had gained in pregnancy – that I admit, was more than my doctor advised. Being told you’ll ‘bounce back’ to your pre-baby physical form, especially in your first pregnancy when I had no idea how my body would react, only sets you up for disappointment. I couldn’t manage my own expectations never mind anyone else’s.’
‘To be honest I didn’t really care about rushing to ‘bounce back’, that wasn’t my goal. My body was performing a miracle, of course it was going to change. If anything, I wanted to treat my body with more kindness. I loved eating what I wanted during pregnancy, and even though I’ve struggled with my body image since giving birth, I’m holding onto that respect I have for what my body has been through and I want to be gentle with myself.’
And what Mackintosh is doing is so important because she’s not just talking the talk. In a world where perfection has become the norm (thank you Instagram), she’s showing us, visibly, what a postpartum body looks like, what cellulite looks like. And outside of the body positivity movement, we rarely see these sort of honest pictures of a mainstream celebrity’s body - which in itself is shocking.
So thank you, Millie Mackintosh, for reminding us that hot dog legs three months after giving birth are not the thing (and also for the great swimwear inspo).