Kelly Clarkson and Serena Williams are opening up about their experiences with body shaming.
Serena recently appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show, were she and the host discussed clapping back at trolls.
“I’ve always had to stand strong for myself with my body image in the public eye, and I love that you’ve always done that,” Kelly told Serena. “You are so body positive.”
“I love that you’ve always done that,” Serena responded. “It’s so cool. One time I think you went off on somebody. I was like, ‘Oh.’ I loved you for it.”
“Was that the British chick?” Kelly said, referencing an incident in 2015 when U.K. journalist Katie Hopkins criticized the singer’s weight on Twitter.
At the time, Kelly clapped back by telling Heat magazine, “I’m awesome! It doesn’t bother me. It’s a free world. Say what you will.”
“I was like, ‘Look, I ain’t got time for you over the pond,’ ” Kelly explained. “I got enough people hating on me over here!”
“You set ’em straight and I was like, ‘woah, don’t mess with her,’ ” Serena said.
Kelly also shared what “fuels” her to stand up against body shaming.
“What makes me mad about it, it’s honestly not how it’s said to me — it’s rude and obviously, nobody likes to hear it — but it’s because other women and other little girls are looking out there and they’re bigger than me and they’re going, ‘If they think she’s this way, then what does the world think of me?’ ” Kelly said, explaining, “The domino effect of that is so detrimental for people’s psyche and especially nowadays with young women on social media … it’s just so hard.”
“So that’s actually what makes me mad,” she added, ” … That’s why I feel like I have to keep talking about it every once in a while and stand up. I try to do it in a comedic way and keep it light. But well, sometimes you just gotta shut ’em down.”
But Serena laughingly pointed out that she doesn’t think that Kelly actually “kept it light.”
“That was not light, but whatever you say,” she said.
