I wish I’d never followed her on instagram. Honestly, back when I just watched an occasional vlog of Mel’s on YouTube, she was bearable. I used to watch her food diaries because they were pretty balanced and similar to my own diet minus her nightly booze and chocolate, or her occasional induglence in red meat at a pub or something (I had also been plant based and transitioned back to eggs and some dairy, fish, etc, so I found her somewhat relatable.)
But my god do I loathe her now. Every time she pops up on my insta feed she’s somehow become a) more antagonistic, b) more pretentious and c) dumber. I always think, “wow, she can’t get worse than this”, but then she promptly proves me wrong.
Her poetry is fucking awful and juvenile. I could have written better poems at 12, and I’m not good at poetry. I suck at it. Unlike Mel, I don’t believe the sun shines out of my ass and I’m well aware of my limits. She’s like 32, how is she so unable to be honest and self-reflective?
Her worst crime, however, is the way that she presents and represents motherhood. For all her talk of feminism, female empowerment, etc, her behaviour does not add up. Since becoming a mother she has done 3 things:
1. Bitch and moan about the physical changes she’s been through, only to immediately try to cover up her complaining by claiming she’s “so grateful” and “in awe” of her what her body’s capable of, even though she’s very clearly obsessing about before-and-after photos, and is noticeably upset.
2. Act like a martyr about HOW HAAAAARD she has it, despite, as you all have pointed out, being surrounded by a strong support network. She has no consideration for women who have been isolated from their families and partners, whether through covid or other circumstances, for single mums or for mums that have actual jobs and thus a limited maternity leave. Nope, Mel’s got it SO HARD. And yes, babies are tough. They are hard work. It’s okay to talk about that, and have honest discussions. But Mel makes mountains out of molehills and constantly tries to one-up other women.
3. Has completely lost herself and her identity for the “mummy” identity. This is a pet hate of mine. I know Mel is not the only woman to do this, I’ve witnessed it time and time again. I understand that once you have kids, your priorities change. That’s okay. You’re allowed to be a mother, you’re allowed to love it. But fuck, why does it have to become literally your entire identity? Look through her feed. It’s ALL about her son and motherhood. What’s left? An occasional mention of Harry Potter, perhaps? Riveting. I have loads of friends with kids that didn’t lose themselves, and managed to hold on to who they are outside of motherhood. They’re brilliant women. And most of them have it harder than Mel in terms of support networks, and have real jobs that they have to balance on top of it all. If they can have hobbies, interests and identities, so can she.
Rant over. I unfollowed her today.
no one on the internet would even know.
not sure I would write a poem about it… about my son