As someone who constantly gets judged (and misjudged) online, Hailey Baldwin knows the truth about social media. When it comes down to it, what we see on Instagram isn’t always a 100 percent accurate reflection of real life, and in a recent interview with Glamour, the newly minted Mrs. Bieberopened up about the ways in which social media can be toxic.
“First of all, I would tell everyone that lots of people don’t really look like what they do on social media,” she revealed to the mag. “Because you’ll see so many people and be like, ‘You’re so pretty, oh my God.’ But then you see them in person, and it’s like, ‘You’re still really pretty; it’s just not what you look like online.’ People are out there catfishing for sure. It’s just the truth. Social media is so ‘Show your best, hide the rest.’”
And although tons of people on social media embellish their lives to make it seem like they live in a fantasy, the model acknowledged that there are several people on the photo app who use their platform to showcase their natural beauty — even if it’s something most people would deem less than perfect.
“There are a lot of people who do embrace their natural beauty, and they’re not afraid to show their bodies or freckles or bags under their eyes, whatever it is. And I think that that’s real. I think that it’s OK to want to look good. It’s OK to want to feel sexy in a photo or to post the photo that you feel like you look really beautiful in. But then I also think it’s OK to be like, I don’t look this good all the time. Like, catch me at the grocery store —when my hair is in a messy bun and I’m wearing sweatpants. I’m not going to look like how I do on my Instagram, because that’s just the fact.”
As a model herself, the 22-year-old knows that some impressionable fans look at the photo shoots she does and want to be more like her. However, she wants those fans to know that what they’re seeing isn’t necessarily real. In fact, it’s a combination of lighting, cameras, Photoshop and an epic team of photo editors that make supermodels appear way different than they do IRL.
“It’s not attainable even for the most drop-dead gorgeous human being on the planet,” she said. “I wish more young people understood that on photo shoots, that’s us doing our job. It’s like a movie, it’s not real — it’s a set with lighting, and cameras, and production. It’s created. I hope nobody looks at a photo of a model where they have like all this hair and makeup, and think that that’s what they’re supposed to look like all the time. People need to understand the contrast.”
Well, there you have it! Even the blonde bombshell knows that looking flawless all the time isn’t realistic. In other words, it’s simply not worth it to give in to the pressures of social media — especially since most of what we’re seeing isn’t real at all. Thanks for the reminder, Hailey! Sometimes we could all use one.
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