A mum who has finally accepted the body and skin she’s in after giving birth to her son 8 years ago has made peace with her appearance.
Brenda DeRouen, 26, from Texas, decided to publicly confirm her appreciation of her body by recreating Kendall Jenner’s Calvin Klein advert, showing off her stretch marks.
DeRouen developed the stretchmarks towards the end of her pregnancy, despite doing everything to prevent them from showing. She was upset when she found the marks on her belly and struggled to come to terms with the scars.
DeRouen tried all sorts of exercises and treatments to get rid of her stretch marks, but to no avail. She no longer felt comfortable wearing a bikini, despite her stomach showing 4 lines out of a six pack.
Photographer, Deun Ivory, took the image and shared it on Instagram with the following caption;0 “Love your body. Stretch marks and all.”
DeRouen wrote on her blog,“You are beautiful. Every scar and every imperfection, has a story that makes you uniquely you.
“Sexy, near naked, and provocative pictures flood our news feeds daily. They make other women who don’t look the same feel inadequate.
“Well, here’s a different kind of provocative for your feed. Enjoy!”
DeRouen hopes her post and photos will help other women overcome their body confidence issues – especially after childbirth. She shared the same image on her own Instagram profile with the following caption:
“Hello body, I haven’t appreciated you much lately. I haven’t acknowledged your beauty and your marvelous wonder.
“I am proud of you. For all that you have endured. For all that you have overcome, and for continuing to keep me strong and alive. I love you. And just like any other body you are worthy of appreciation, flaws and all.”
So far the response has been overwhelming to the image. DeRouen later extended her blog post to include all women who suffer from body confidence.
“This… is for the millions of women out there who recognise that their bodies are a piece of art,” she wrote on her blog.
“That it will continuously change and that it will naturally show signs of maturity, growth, age, and for those women who are super lucky: motherhood.”
