Laura Warren, evening news anchor at Augusta, GA stations WRDW (CBS) and WAGT (NBC), was checking her voicemail recently when she got a message from a viewer telling her baby bump made her look “disgusting.”
“Please go to Target and buy some decent maternity clothes so you don’t walk around looking like you got a watermelon strapped under your too tight outfits,” the caller said. “Target’s got a great line of maternity clothes in case you’ve never heard of such a thing. You’re getting to where you’re being disgusting on the TV,” the viewer said.
Warren, who is 20 weeks pregnant, posted the recording on her blog, writing that the message got her thinking.
I consider myself a confident, pretty secure, independent, woman. Why was I letting this one ridiculous, negative comment ruin my whole day? I’ve gotten dozens of compliments from viewers saying nice things about my pregnancy, why was this the one that stuck? I don’t really have an answer. If I did, I could probably solve the world’s bullying problem. But, that whole saying our moms taught us about sticks and stones is kind of garbage. In fact, sometimes, I think words hurt far worse than sticks
Warren’s solution, turn a negative into a positive: “I’m going to say as many nice things as I can to as many people as I can, and I’m going to do it in a dress that fits these beautiful new curves with my ‘watermelon’ stomach showing.” Her post has also led to an outpouring of positive comments on her social media, including this Instagram post.