Jonah Hill Calls Out The Media For Trying To Body-Shame Him After His Shirtless Pics Appear Online

Loving ourselves and our bodies as they are is far, far easier said than done. Being proud of ourselves doesn’t mean just struggling with fitness and a good diet. At the same time, you have to deal with mockery from the sidelines which requires tremendous willpower not to give into others’ opinions about you.

With the world’s eyes on them, celebrities are under extreme pressure because they constantly have to deal with paparazzi and malicious articles. Jonah Hill, however, is showing all of us how to ignore the haters. In an Instagram post, the 37-year-old American actor called out the Daily Mail for body-shaming him after they published photos of him surfing and walking around without a shirt. He spoke about how insecure he used to be about his body and how the way that the media treats him doesn’t even phase him anymore.

Like Jonah says, it’s not a “good for me” post, it’s not a “feel bad for me” post, it’s about motivating others like him to have fun and embrace how “awesome and perfect” they are even if they’re scared of taking off their shirts at the pool because they’re afraid of being judged.

Actor Jonah Hill had a hard time loving himself and his body throughout his life

Image credits: jonahhill

However, he’s recently learned to accept himself for who he is. He’s embraced himself and criticism doesn’t even phase him anymore

Image credits: jonahhill

So when the Daily Mail tried to body-shame him, he called them out in an inspirational Instagram post

Image credits: jonahhill

The actor opened up that he hasn’t taken off his shirt in a pool until he was in his mid-30s. And that’s not just in front of strangers: he was embarrassed to show his body to his family members, as well as his friends.

As he puts it, the childhood insecurities that Jonah had about himself were compounded by “years of public mockery” about his body by the press and interviewers. However, things have changed for the better now. He’s much more resilient as a person.

Jonah has finally learned to love and accept himself. The cherry on top is that the media stalking him and snapping photos of him doesn’t even phase him anymore. Now that’s the kind of mental fortitude that even a monk would be proud to have. And it’s something that all of us need to learn because we all have things we’re ashamed of even though we shouldn’t be.

The actor’s post got over 1.5 million likes on Instagram in 2 days and has been inspiring internet users to embrace themselves ever since.

It’s not just your average Joe social media users who are coming out in support of the actor. Celebrities are showing that they’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jonah, too. Film director Judd Apatow shared: “When I take my shirt off at the beach it looks like I am still wearing a shirt…or sweater. Now I will show it off with pride!”

Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake said that Jonah, whom we know and love from movies like Superbad and 21 Jump Street, is “a G!!!” and his “spirit animal.” He added: “Love you bro!”

In an earlier interview with Bored Panda, celebrity expert Mike Sington explained to us how each and every celebrity ought to assume that they’re always ‘on display’ and in the public eye. Especially when they think that they aren’t.

There’s no such thing as catching a break from the attention of your adoring fans (or nasty paparazzi); you have to learn to deal with the pressure. Part of that means always being “friendly and well-mannered.” That applies to how celebs communicate in real life, as well as what they write on their social media pages.

“Most major celebrities have a social media manager that manages all of their accounts. This person (at times it’s a team, with a single manager) creates content for the celebrity and posts on their behalf. Usually, the celebrity has to have final approval on the content before it’s posted,” Mike told us about how things often work behind the scenes when you’re a major star.

“In addition, often the celebrity will suggest content to their social media person, who will then craft it for them. At times, however, the contract with the media team allows them to post without final celebrity approval. There are just as many celebrities handling all of their own social media—they write, photograph and post completely on their own.”

According to Hollywood’s Ultimate Insider, Mike, celebrities have to stay cool at all times: they shouldn’t post anything when they feel upset, angry, or emotional. His advice is simple. Stars should wait a day and see if they still want to post the thing they were so worked up about not too long ago. “It’s pretty simple advice, but it would keep a lot of stars out of trouble!” he said.

But let’s jump back to real life. Mike detailed that it does take some conscious effort on the celeb’s part to be nice when they know that every interaction with fans in public, however small, might get recorded. Whether by them or by the paparazzi. However, Mike pointed out that for the majority of celebrities being nice “comes naturally” and requires no special effort whatsoever.

“In my experience, the one constant I’ve noticed is the bigger the star, the nicer the celebrity. The established stars have it down and understand the importance of the celebrity/fan relationship. You usually only have a problem with the newer, up-and-coming stars. They at times don’t get it and may think they’re too good to interact with you. This attitude often backfires, and they realize if they want longevity, it’s actually not that hard to be nice.”