This Model Called out a Co-Passenger for Fat Shaming Her on a Plane

A model who runs an anti-body shaming movement on Instagram has called out a man who sent nasty text messages about her size while they were seated next to one another on a plane.

Natalie Hage, who helps run Tess Holliday’s empowering @effyourbeautystandards, was minding her own business on a flight to Los Angeles when she realised that another passenger was sending nasty texts about her to a friend.

The man was sitting next to her, and at one point had angled his phone away from Natalie, as though he was attempting to take a sneaky photo of her.

In return, Natalie took photos of his texts and confronted him about his comments.

She shared the fat shaming incident with her followers on Instagram, receiving plenty of support in the process.

i’m shaking right now. i’m on a flight to LA right now on @americanair. i paid almost $70 extra for this seat i’m in because i know i need a little extra leg room. i’m extremely flight anxious but there were only middle seats available so i had to take what i could get. as soon as i sat down, the gentleman on my left began LOUDLY huffing, sighing, and readjusting himself in his seat. i see him furiously texting and then purposefully turning the phone away from me. so, naturally next time he texts, i take a look. the texts were about me and i’m almost positive he took photos of me. not only were the texts about me, but they were really mean and ugly, with even the recipient named ‘linda’ chiming back with shaming retorts…someone who can’t even see the situation. if you can’t read the texts, it says ‘hopefully she didn’t have any mexican food’ and his response is ‘i think she ate a mexican’. then he proceeds to say he’s leaving a ‘neck mark on the window’ because he’s so smashed against the wall. from the photos, you can see i’m not in his space. he’s even taken over both arm rests on purpose, coming to my space and digging his elbows into my side…which is in my seat. his next text to her was ‘if the news reports a DFW airbus a321 leaving the runway without rotating, that would be my flight.’ another i see later? ‘if these seats don’t hold, it’s not going to matter.’ and that’s just a few of them. there were several more. i didn’t do anything to him. i’m in my seat, completely (see photos). i am crumpled into a ball trying to not bother. i’m just so upset. i asked the other man to my right if he’d switch me and told him what the man was saying about me and he said laughed and refused. that’s fine, it’s not his issue. this is a fat person’s daily reality and not just on a plane. this is on a bus, standing in line at the grocery store, at a concert, on the internet. you can be completely in your own space, not bothering anyone, and people will still fuck with you and try to hurt you. all you can do is know you haven’t done anything wrong just by existing and to move on. this just makes me a mixture of enraged and super sad.

A post shared by natalie. (@nataliemeansnice) on Jun 29, 2017 at 9:55am PDT

Hage explained that she paid almost US$70 extra for her seat on the plane because she knows she “needs a little extra leg room”.

“The gentleman on my left began loudly huffing, sighing and readjusting himself in his seat. I see him furiously texting and then purposefully turning the phone away from me. So, naturally, next time he texts, I take a look,” she said.

“Not only were the texts about me, but they were really mean and ugly, with even the recipient named ‘Linda’ chiming back with shaming retorts.

“If you can’t read the texts, it says ‘hopefully she didn’t have any Mexican food’ and his response is ‘I think she ate a Mexican’. Then he proceeds to say he’s leaving a ‘neck mark on the window’ because he’s so smashed against the wall.

“His next text to her was ‘if the news reports a DFW airbus a321 leaving the runway without rotating, that would be my flight’.”

At one point Natalie asked the passenger on her other side if he would like to switch with her, explaining what the other man was doing. He laughed and refused.

As the passengers were ready to leave the plane, Natalie decided to call out the man who made comments about her body. She filmed the confrontation but chose not to include his face for his own privacy.

Natalie told the man she’d noticed him sending “horrible texts” about her.

He denied any wrongdoing at first, but when Hage began quoting him back and said she had photos of the messages, he immediately apologised.  “I’m sorry, I was drinking,” he said.

He then went on the question whether she was fit enough to sit by the emergency exit.

“When they ask if you’re willing and capable to assist people in getting off the aeroplane in an emergency, do you honestly think you are?” he asked.

“My body is none of your business…don’t ever treat anyone like that again,” she said.

At this point, the man offered to take her out to dinner to make it up to her. Really?

“This is a fat person’s daily reality and not just on a plane. This is on a bus, standing in line at the grocery store, at a concert, on the internet. You can be completely in your own space, not bothering anyone and people will still fuck with you and try to hurt you,” Hage said.

“All you can do is know you haven’t done anything wrong just by existing and to move on.”

Source: Instagram/Natalie Hage